The Dominican Republic will open an office in Yerevan as a representation of its embassy in Moscow by the end of the year. The office will make visa issuance procedures for the citizens of Armenia easier and there will be no need to send all the documents to Moscow.

Ambassador of the Dominican Republic to Armenia Frank Hans Dannenberg Castellanos (residence in Moscow) sees great prospects for economic cooperation between Armenia and the Dominican Republic.

“We are trying to work on getting a direct flight from the Dominican Republic to Armenia. We are also looking at the possibility that that flight connects to a flight to Los Angeles so that the Armenian Diaspora in Los Angeles can have an opportunity to come to Armenia via the Caribbean or Armenians in the US can meet with Armenians in Armenia in the Caribbean on vacation. So, we realize that we as a country have direct flights from Canada, France, Brazil, Argentina, and the USA, the same places where most of the Armenian Diaspora lives. So, the Dominican Republic could be a bridge between the Diaspora and Armenia in the Caribbean”, the Ambassador said.

He said that Armenia has an embassy in Brazil, in Argentina, but does not have one in the Caribbean. “We want to become the door to the Caribbean. The Dominican Republic wants Armenia to be our door to the Caucasus and Central Asia, and Armenia to look at our country as a possible door to the Caribbean region and the Central American region”, he said.

Frank Hans Dannenberg Castellanos added that they are currently working on an agreement on civil aviation issues. Charter flights can start without this agreement, but as he says, they want to create a legal base so that this agreement can grow in the future.

“We are also looking now to have an office as a representation of our Embassy in Moscow. Although I am a non-resident Ambassador, I want to have a more permanent office here, to serve the Armenian interests, to be able to assist on trade issues, that is usually a door to looking at the future of possible embassy in Armenia”, he said, stating that very soon, maybe by the end of the following month, they will have an office in Armenia so that people can get their visas in Armenia and do not have to send their passports to Moscow.

He said that the diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 2007, the two states have cooperated in the multilateral arena in many areas in United Nations, but it has not been a very active relationship until ambassadors were appointed by both sides.

“This new government in my country, that is two years now, decided to diversify their diplomatic relations and make the ones that were already signed, to make it work. They have assigned an ambassador to Moscow, and we have received your ambassador in Canada. And now we are looking at how to expand that relationship. The first step is usually appointing an ambassador, whether it is a resident or non-resident, then there are possibilities of having honorary consuls in each country. And then start to work directly with the government officials in Armenia so that we could have the judicial, the legal background to have more and more relations”, he said. “Now we have to create a legal framework that this relation can continue working and giving positive fruits to the bilateral. This will establish the conditions for just increasing the level of our relations and hopefully, in the future, we can have a resident embassy in Armenia”, he added.