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occurred on the part of Italy in 2013. In that year, the Italian parliament, in its budget for fiscal year 2014-2015,
ordered the reduction in several of the diplomatic and consular missions of the Italian state abroad due to eco-
nomic adjustments, which also applied to the Dominican Republic.
Finally, I must emphasize that the good results of fruitful and harmonious bonds between peoples and
governments must always be placed in their proper perspective with their corresponding recent and past hi-
storical antecedents.
The fruits that we are reaping today from these excellent relations between Italy and the Dominican Repu-
blic are due to the fact that since 2014, President Medina—even before the Italian Embassy in Santo Domingo
was forced to close in late 2014—has made concerted efforts to foster ties between the two countries, as can
be evidenced by the reopening of the embassy in 2017, under the direction of Ambassador Andrea Canepari.
When President Medina arrived in Rome for the first time on June 12, 2014, on the occasion of an official
audience with Pope Francis, which I arranged for the following day, the president provided me with copies of
the correspondence addressed respectively to President Giorgio Napolitano and the president of the Council
of Ministers, Mateo Renzi, so that, in view of our ambassador to the Quirinale, Dr. Vinicio Tobal, leaving
Rome, I would give my support and assistance as ambassador to the Holy See to improve the situation. By
virtue of this, I was tasked with a collaboration effort aimed at sustaining firm bonds between both countries.
Lastly, the active collaboration of Dominican entrepreneurs of Italian origin, deputies and senators who
traveled to Italy between 2013 and 2015, and with whom we share the mutual task of strengthening relations
between Italy and the Dominican Republic, also deserve special recognition. As part of this active collabora-
tion, we should also acknowledge the tireless efforts of Ambassador Peggy Cabral de Peña Gómez and Foreign
Minister Miguel Vargas Maldonado in the years following 2016.
Following pages:
Santo Domingo, Diego Colón Viceregal Palace.
West façade (2020).
© Giovanni Cavallaro
ORIGINS OF THE STRONG RELATIONS BETWEEN ITALY AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC