Haiti, Dominican Republic begin citizenship talks

Haiti, Dominican Republic begin citizenship talks

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitian and Dominican officials are hoping to resolve questions over citizenship in talks between the two countries.

Haiti’s Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and members of his cabinet are to discuss with Dominican officials issues including commerce, migration and security at a meeting in the northern Haitian border town of Ouanaminthe. The neighboring countries share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

But the meeting’s main focus is a September court ruling that threatens to strip citizenship from people living in the Dominican Republic who are mostly of Haitian descent. They could be sent to Haiti even though they weren’t born there.

The Tuesday discussion is expected to last all day. It stems from a recent meeting in Venezuela at which the two nations were urged to resolve their differences.