On April 17, 2026, senior diplomatic delegations from neighboring Haiti and the Dominican Republic gathered for high-stakes talks at the Codevi Industrial Park, a facility located directly along their shared border, to move forward critical negotiations on longstanding bilateral priorities.
Leading the respective delegations were Haitian Foreign Minister Raina Forbin and Dominican Republic Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez. The meeting was rooted in the framework established by the 2021 joint declaration signed by former Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and current Dominican President Luis Abinader, a foundational document that has shaped diplomatic engagement between the two Caribbean nations over the past five years.
The most tangible breakthrough to emerge from the day’s discussions is a formal agreement to fully reopen shared airspace beginning May 1, 2026. Under the deal, commercial passenger flights will resume between Haiti’s Cap-Haïtien International Airport and multiple airports across the Dominican Republic. Officials from both sides project that the resumption of air connectivity will streamline cross-border travel for families, business people, and tourists, lay the groundwork for expanded economic collaboration, and strengthen people-to-people ties that have been strained by years of restricted access.
Beyond the airspace agreement, delegations dedicated substantial time to addressing three core ongoing challenges: coordinated border security management, irregular migration flows, and expanded bilateral trade. Both sides emphasized that sustained, coordinated cooperation is the only path to improving regulatory control and bolstering long-term stability across the entire border region.
In addition to their internal negotiations, the two delegations jointly expressed gratitude for ongoing international backing for efforts to stabilize Haiti, singling out support from the United Nations as critical to ongoing work to restore peace and functional institutional governance in the crisis-battered country.
By the close of the meeting, both nations issued a joint reaffirmation of their commitment to keeping diplomatic channels open, framing consistent, constructive dialogue as the primary mechanism to address shared challenges. The statement closed with a reaffirmation of mutual respect for each nation’s sovereignty and a renewed commitment to upholding positive, good-neighborly relations moving forward.