SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AFP) — Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader, who has championed a tough line on Haiti, told the United States on Friday that he was open to normalising relations with its impoverished neighbour as security improves.

Meeting United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was back from a rare visit to Haiti, the popular Dominican leader promised to look both at restoring political ties with Haiti and reopening airspace closed for months to flights to and from Haiti.

“Our intention is to try to normalise as much as possible, while always respecting the security of Dominicans,” Abinader told a joint news conference with Blinken.

“Thanks to efforts by the United States, we now have a peace force in Haiti, so to the extent that they can move forward on internal security, we will also move forward in the normalization of relations,” he said.

Abinader won a resounding reflection in May in part due to the popularity of his hard stance on Haiti, with which the Dominican Republic shares a border and has long had tense relations.

Abinader began work on a 164-kilometre (102-mile) concrete wall with Haiti and last year had more than 250,000 Haitians deported, leading Amnesty International to accuse the Dominican Republic of racism.

Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country, had plunged into virtual anarchy with gangs taking over the capital Port-au-Prince and the security and health systems collapsing.

In Port-au-Prince on Thursday, Blinken voiced hope for progress in Haiti after early efforts by a new international security force headed by Kenya and largely funded by the United States.

Blinken praised Abinader’s record at home, saying he has shown “real leadership” in combating corruption and ensuring the Judiciary’s independence.