BROWARD COUNTY, FL – Mayor Dale V.C. Holness will hold a news conference on Saturday, October 10th at 3:00PM with Leonel Fernandez, the former President of Dominican Republic and the former Prime Minister of Haiti, Gérard Latortue, at the Broward Government Center Lobby, 115 S. Andrews Avenue in Fort Lauderdale.
Topics to be discussed include Broward County’s approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, the School Board of Broward County’s plan to safely return students back to school and international trade to strengthen the world economy.
Trade between Port Everglades and the Dominican Republic is strong. In FY2019, the Dominican Republic ranked number three in overall trade with Port Everglades, number three in exports and number six in imports. In FY2019, trade with the Dominican Republic equaled 52,024 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEU’s) with a total value of more than $3 billion ($3,044,056,660). Exports in FY2019 totaled more than $1.5 billion and imports totaled more than $1.4 billion.
Cotton and clothing are the top two commodities traded in FY2019. Food products, motor vehicles and machinery were also among the top traded items exported from Port Everglades to the Dominican Republic. Top imports include clothing, electric machinery, medical instruments, tobacco and plastics.
“International trade is vital to our economic recovery and the Dominican Republic has been a top trade partner with Port Everglades for the past decade,” said Mayor Holness.
Dr. Leonel Antonio Fernandez served as the 50th and 52nd President of the Dominican Republic from 1996 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2012. He currently serves as President of the World Federation of United Nations Associations and since 2016, has served as President of the European Union-Latin America and Caribbean Foundation (EU-LAC Foundation). Dr. Fernandez is also President of Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (Funglode)/Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) which is a non-profit think tank on global issues. Mr. Gerard Latortue, served as Prime Minister in Haiti from 2004 to 2006. He was an official in the United Nations for many years, and briefly served as Foreign Minister of Haiti in 1988.