New York State Senate Delegation Trip to Dominican Republic: Conversation with President Luis R. Abinader; More Comercial Flights Needed

Rusking Pimentel

September 8, 2022

Dominican Republic

On August 30, 2022, a delegation of New York State Senators and Assemblymembers visited the Dominican Republic for the first time as part of a historic exchange between the New York State Senate and the Senate of the Dominican Republic. This exchange originated thanks to the leadership exercised by the Majority Leader of the New York State Senate, Andrea Stewart-Cousins and the President of the Senate of the Dominican Republic, Eduardo Estrella.

During our visit, we were honored to be received by the Honorable President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader Corona. One of the topics of discussion in the framework of providing more and better services to the residents of the Dominican Republic and the State of New York, was the commercial air traffic between both locations. This topic was also presented due to the importance of permanent and affordable air routes to maintain the ties that unite families and the importance in terms of economic exchange.

With world class airports in the Dominican Republic, such as Punta Cana Airport and Jose Francisco Pena Gomez Airport, as well as the world class airports in New York State, John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia, it is urgent that more airlines explore establishing new routes between the two locations.

President Abinader expressed his desire to work together with us to have airlines expand their operations or new airlines come in to provide service with the purpose of continuing to strengthen the cultural, economic and family ties that unite us.

As elected officials of the State of New York, we agree with the importance of this for our State and for the Dominican Republic. It is our interest and the interest of the President of the Dominican Republic, as he expressed to us, to expand the services and ties that unite us as brother nations. Therefore, we are not only pleased with the opinion of the Dominican government, but we also urge the U.S. business community, especially the airlines, to take the necessary steps to expand and improve their operations between New York State and the Dominican Republic. All economic models indicate the strength of the Dominican economy, being a leader in the region and the state of New York is recognized as the cultural, financial and economic center of the world. Based on our long history of common relations and the benefit this will bring to the large Dominican diaspora residing in our state, we salute the position of the President of the Dominican Republic and welcome the efforts of the business community in this direction.

Senator Luis R. Sepúlveda

Senator Leroy Comrie