UK government plan to ban LGBTQ+ conversion practices sets agenda for public event at Oxford University
Dominican Republic Delegation Visits Oriel
6 June 2023
In May, the Provost, Lord Mendoza CBE, hosted a delegation from the Chamber of Deputies and Senate of the Dominican Republic, visiting with Anneliese Dodds MP, Chair of the Labour Party, Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities and Labour MP for Oxford East. This was part of the delegation’s five-day parliamentary visit to the UK.
The Dominican Republic has a mainly Spanish speaking population of over 11 million and is the second largest Caribbean country, situated two hours south of Miami. The Head of State is President Luis Abinader from the Modern Revolutionary Party.
Representing the UK on the World stage
Oriel was asked to help with UK diplomacy by hosting the delegation and the visit was arranged by the British Group Inter-Parliamentary Union (BGIPU). The group aims to serve Britain’s interests through advancing the Parliamentary dimension of Britain’s foreign relations and is the official national group representing UK parliamentarians in the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
Seven national leaders from both the Dominican Republic’s Congress and Senate joined the Provost at his lodgings for lunch along with Anneliese Dodds. This included the Republic’s youngest ever female speaker, leading members of the Modern Revolutionary Party and the Dominican Liberation Party.
An opportunity for Oriel’s modern languages students
Oriel’s Fellow and Tutor in Linguistics and Spanish Dr Víctor Acedo-Matellán joined with two of his brilliant Spanish-speaking students: Kate Taylor and Fleur Whitworth – both BA Modern Languages (French & Spanish).
This very successful visit included a commitment to investigate whether the Dominican Republic could be a host country for Oriel’s Modern Languages Study Abroad programme.