SANTO DOMINGO. – The Dominican Government shares the position of many nations that the half-century long U.S.-led blockade against Cuba has failed, and welcomes Washington’s “great courage” for its latest moves to ease those restrictions, said president Leonel Fernandez Friday in a press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

For Washington its relations with the Dominican Republic are a cornerstone and it seeks to improve its historic links of cooperation and of friendship, Clinton said in the National Palace of the Caribbean nation, after concluding a meeting that started at 9:33 a.m.

The U.S. senior official president and Fernandez spoke to reporters in the Salon of Ambassadors with Dominican and foreign journalists that began at 11 a.m. and lasted around 20 minutes.

She said her Government is making efforts to improve its relations with the nations “in our own yard” and with others around the world.

The United States’ top diplomat and Fernandez stressed the importance of bolstering the relations between their countries, which the latter said have historically been of conflict and cooperation.

He said Barack Obama’s easing of the measures showed great courage by Washington in its effort to seek improved relations with Cuba. “We in Dominican Republic share this position, because after 50 years of the blockade we can call it a failure, Obama is blazing a new trail, a new way in the relations with Cuba and the Latin American region. We are also happy with (president) Raul Castro’s important and symbolic gesture that he’s willing to engage in a dialogue.”

He also praised the Obama Administration and the international community for their efforts to increase aid for Haiti. “We in Dominican Republic see this with sympathy that the U.S shows more interest in cooperating with Haiti, we’re very interested in that.”

The Dominican leader added that Clinton deserved to be congratulated, “for her statements today and for expression of a desire of a new world for peace.”