Dominican Deputy Off to Costa Rica
February 26th, 2009 | by admin |When Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced in July 2007 that his government would make re-engagement with the countries of the Americas a priority, Luis Kalaff, deputy head of mission at the Embassy of the Dominican Republic, rejoiced.
“It’s a big deal, I think it’s very important,” Mr. Kalaff says. “We can see [already] how Canada takes more time on our country.”
After four and a half years at the embassy in Ottawa, Mr. Kalaff is departing next month to become deputy head of mission at the Dominican Embassy in Costa Rica. He arrived in Ottawa back in November 2004, when Liberal Paul Martin was prime minister.
Mr. Kalaff says he was glad to be in Ottawa over the past four years because attracting high-level political attention and an increased level of support from the Department of Foreign Affairs to the Latin American region has been one of the top goals at the Embassy of the Dominican Republic.
“In Liberal government, we had also good relations. We were beginning to look at trade agreements and particularly in the Dominican Republic, we had started a conversation for a free trade agreement in 2002,” Mr. Kalaff explains. “But with the Conservative government, this started more formally.”
Mr. Kalaff says the conversation on bringing about a free trade deal really began when Peter MacKay, former foreign affairs minister and now defence minister, visited the Dominican Republic in June 2006 for the Summit of the Americas.
Now, Mr. Kalaff says, Canada and the Dominican Republic are due for a third round of negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement, continuing the formal talks that began in December 2007.
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, two-way merchandise trade between Canada and the Dominican Republic was $277 million in 2006, while Canadian direct investment in that country registered at $1.8 billion. A free trade agreement is expected to be a boost for Canadian agricultural and agri-food exports.
Mr. Kalaff says he is especially pleased that the conversation around free trade between the two countries is not solely about trade, but also touches on areas such as education and immigration.
Before coming to Ottawa in 2004, Mr. Kalaff, who is an economist, spent many years working in the private sector in banking consulting and representing European companies that had a presence in Latin America.
Mr. Kalaff studied economics at the country’s national university, Pedro Henriquez Urena, where he graduated with honours. He has also studied in Brazil, where he focused on economics with a specialization in international trade.
Over the years, he has moved back and forth between the private and diplomatic fields, having twice been posted to the Dominican Republic’s embassy in neighbouring Haiti.
During his first posting, from 1982 until 1987, Mr. Kalaff was cultural and economic counsellor. He worked hard to promote trade between the Dominican Republic and Haiti and created the Dominican-Haitian Chamber of Commerce in 1984. The chamber continues to function as the epicentre of economic activity between the two countries.
Mr. Kalaff even had a potential free trade agreement between the Dominican Republic and Haiti nearly secured, with both countries’ congresses reviewing it. However, Mr. Kalaff says the Haitians decided not to sign the agreement because the private sector feared it would have adverse impacts.
In 1987, Mr. Kalaff returned to the Dominican Republic and the private sector to run a consultation company. He also worked for the Dominican Association of Industry and for the superintendent of banking.
Ten years later, in 1997, Mr. Kalaff returned to the embassy in Haiti for one year, and again focused on developing business relations.
From 1998 until 2004, he stayed in the Dominican, where his three children live. Although he is being transferred to Costa Rica, Mr. Kalaff says he hopes to return to Ottawa for frequent visits because he enjoyed living in Canada.
