Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic – On a Monday official diplomatic gathering, Dominican Republic Minister of Foreign Affairs Víctor “Ito” Bisonó accepted preliminary copies of official Letters of Credence from Hélène Rekkers, the recently designated top diplomatic representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Caribbean nation. A seasoned career diplomat with nearly 30 years of public service under her belt, Rekkers first joined the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs back in 1996, bringing a robust portfolio of cross-cultural negotiation and international engagement experience to her new posting. Prior to her reassignment to the Dominican Republic, Rekkers held the key post of Dutch consul general in Cape Town, South Africa, where she oversaw consular services, trade outreach and people-to-people exchanges for a large geographic jurisdiction. During their closed-door bilateral discussion, Minister Bisonó extended a warm official welcome to Rekkers, before the two diplomats walked through the full scope of the existing collaborative agenda between the two nations. Both officials explicitly reaffirmed their respective governments’ shared commitment to deepening long-standing diplomatic, economic and social cooperation across priority areas of mutual interest. Per established Dominican diplomatic protocol, Rekkers will receive her full formal status as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands only after she formally presents her official Letters of Credence directly to Dominican President Luis Abinader in a scheduled upcoming official ceremony.
Netherlands’ new ambassador to Dominican Republic presents credentials
