Above: the First Ladies’ meeting in New York (Photo: DICOM)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The First Ladies of both Haiti and the Dominican Republic held a meeting this week in New York in the context of the United Nations General Assembly meeting.

Haiti’s Sophia Martelly and the Dominican Republic’s Cándida Montilla de Medina discussed a range of issues, including teenage pregnancy, according to a statement from the Dominican government.

The two also discussed Dominican programmes concerning early childhood, and a new Dominican comprehensive care centre focusing on disability.

Medina invited Martelly to visit the Dominican Republic to examine a series of initiatives on which the Office of the First Lady has embarked, the government said.

The meeting comes as the two sides’ governments have looked to deepen what have often been stormy relations on the island of Hispaniola.