Santo Domingo. - The National Business Council (Conep) yesterday affirmed “the hour to make decisions has come” in the country’s migratory scope and the only way to do it responsibly is by defining “the national interest and by hoisting, without any condition, a migratory policy that respects human rights as well of the migrants, such as the Dominican realities of labor, social, cultural and entrepreneurial.”

Conep president Lisandro Macarrulla said the migratory policy must be defined regardless of external pressures. “It’s unjustified that we’ve yet to have a policy and not even a migratory regulation agreement to the migratory challenge committed to the future, worse still, we‘ve no clear definition of the national interest in that regard.”

He said the migratory topic, mainly Haitian, has been in limbo for some time and cross-border trade, as well as the required documentation of each foreigner in Dominican territory is still undefined, a situation he said, gives rise to all types of accusations against the country, “and that our unquestionable proof of solidarity and brotherhood with any immigrant throughout history aren’t recognized.”

The Conep president spoke in an unannounced press conference in his offices just days former American presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter separately stated that Haiti and Dominican Republic’s problems require joint solution

There’s no possibility to prevent the migration from Haiti to Dominican Republic, not even rich countries have solved the migratory problem,” Carter said in the recent visit, whereas Charles Shapiro, of the U.S. State Department’s Hemispheric Affairs Office, affirmed that “Haiti and Dominican Republic’s problems cannot be tackled as two separate things.”