On the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, the Dominican Republic has advanced its global diplomatic outreach with a series of key agreements and engagements, highlighted by the formal establishment of full diplomatic relations with Somalia. This landmark accord brings the total number of nations that share formal diplomatic ties with the Caribbean country to 188, marking a significant milestone in the Dominican Republic’s efforts to broaden its international presence.
The mutual diplomatic recognition agreement was signed Wednesday by top diplomatic leaders of both nations: Víctor “Ito” Bisonó, Dominican Republic’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Abdisalam Abdi Ali, Somalia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The signing was formalized via a joint statement aligned with the protocols and frameworks set out in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Beyond the new partnership with Somalia, Bisonó secured a second key agreement on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session with Indonesia. The two nations signed a visa exemption arrangement covering holders of diplomatic, official, and service passports. Under the terms of the deal, qualifying passport holders from both countries can enter, exit, transit through, and remain in the other nation for up to 30 days without requiring a pre-arrival visa, a change expected to streamline official travel and deepen people-to-people and institutional connections between the two states.
To wrap up his multilateral engagements during the UNGA, Bisonó also held structured bilateral meetings with two other top foreign policy leaders: Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates, and Margus Tsahkna, Foreign Minister of Estonia. During these closed-door discussions, the parties reviewed the current state of their existing bilateral relations and explored a wide range of untapped opportunities to expand mutually beneficial cooperation across multiple sectors.
These diplomatic moves underscore the Dominican Republic’s ongoing push to strengthen its global engagement, diversify its international partnerships, and create new pathways for collaboration across political, economic, and cultural spheres as it participates in the annual UN General Assembly gathering of world leaders.