CATIE's Graduate School joined the celebration of the Dominican Republic's Restoration Day

• During the activity, the embassy of the Dominican Republic in Costa Rica, with which CATIE has worked constantly for the strengthening of higher education, participated.

August 18, 2022. Last Tuesday, August 16, the halls of the Graduate School of CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center) were filled with colors, food, dances and typical costumes of the Dominican Republic in celebration of the Restoration Day, also considered the day of the second independence. The Restoration War was a confrontation that took place in 1863, after Spain had recolonized the Caribbean country.

During the commemoration of this event, CATIE students who have received scholarships through the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (MESCYT, its Spanish acronym) of the Government of the Dominican Republic, remembered and celebrated this day with the raising of the Dominican flag, traditional dances and the preparation of delicious dishes such as sancocho dominicano, which culminated in a unique cultural exchange.

The event was also attended by the Ambassador of the Dominican Republic in Costa Rica, Mayerlyn Cordero Díaz, who visited the CATIE campus to accompany the student community.

"The experience has been wonderful, I have had the opportunity to see how our students at CATIE can express and transmit what is Dominicanity. They have turned themselves and have made a beautiful cultural and artistic manifestation that I believe has reached each one of those who are here this afternoon. I really feel very, very proud of the students we have here at CATIE," Cordero said.

Through cooperation agreements signed between the Dominican government through MESCYT and CATIE, the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in Costa Rica follows up and is in continuous communication with the students. In recent years, the training of human resources has been jointly consolidated through postgraduate education, as well as courses and diplomas that enable professionals to face the country's agri-food, social and environmental challenges, in order to have more resilient territories.

"I believe that the work being developed and the cooperative relationship through the academic training of Dominican students has a very important impact on the development of the country. I link what CATIE offers for the good of the development of the Dominican Republic," said Cordero.

Currently, the Graduate School has a total of 11 students from the Dominican Republic.