(Reuters) – Dominican Republic leader Luis Abinader prepared to assume his second four-year term as president at his inauguration on Friday, hosting global heads of state and other public figures such as the king of Spain, after naming key members of his executive.
Abinader, a 57-year-old former businessman, cinched another term when he secured some 58% of the vote in May on a pro-business platform with a tough stance on corruption and barring migrants from neighboring conflict-hit Haiti.
Early Friday, guests from the political and private sectors dressed in white gathered at the National Theater in Santo Domingo. Regional leaders present are expected discuss the outcome of Venezuela’s contested July election on the sidelines of the event.
Abinader late on Thursday named economist Joel Santos as the country’s new mines and energy minister. The Dominican Republic is home to Puerto Viejo, one of the world’s largest gold mines, and is also an important supplier of ferronickel.
Santos, a former economy professor, had previously served as Abinader’s minister of the presidency, overseeing transport, water and electrical infrastructure and construction.
Jose Ignacio Paliza, the president of Abinader’s Modern Revolutionary Party and a former senator for the northern Puerto Plata province, was named minister of the presidency, coordinating between the president and other sectors.
Abinader also signed a decree for key members of the financial administration to stay on in their posts, including long-standing central bank veteran Hector Valdez as the authority’s governor, Clarissa de la Rocha as its vice governor and Alejandro Fernandez as superintendent of the country’s banking watchdog.
(Reporting by Sarah Morland; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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