CARICOM - Haiti officials to meet in Jamaica

KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC):

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) officials will meet with their Haitian counterparts in Jamaica early next week to discuss various projects for the earthquake battered French-speaking Caribbean country.

The January 5-7 meeting will develop proposals for submission to the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC).

It will also discuss and finalise other arrangements to strengthen the Haitian government's institutional capacity through assistance from its CARICOM partners, including the private sector. Representatives of the Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat and the Barbados Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) will participate in the three-day meeting.

Earlier, CARICOM Special representative to Haiti, P.J. Patterson said an agreement has been reached with Haiti to strengthen the country's institu-tional capacity.

Patterson had travelled to Port-au-Prince for talks with President René Préval and Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive for discussions on the initiative.

A statement issued afterwards said the commitments and proposals made by both parties were formalised in an aide-mémoire over the signatures of Bellerive and Patterson.

"The consultation reviewed the implementation of the Plan for National Recovery and Develop-ment and lamented the slow progress in the implementation of the recovery as well as the flow of support resources.

"They expressed serious concern at the pace of the delivery of urgently needed assistance to the displaced citizens of Haiti, a significant number of whom are still deprived of basic amenities.

They agreed that the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) needed to provide increased support for strengthening the institutional capacity of Haiti in accordance with the requirements of the Plan for National Recovery and Development," the statement said.

Institutional capacity

It quoted Patterson, the former Jamaica prime minister as saying that the institutional capacity of Haiti would be buttressed by the availability of CARICOM expertise.

"The provision of technical support from CARICOM would expedite the removal of rubble and fast-track construction projects that accord with Haiti's immediate needs and priorities."

The statement said the meeting agreed to accept CARICOM's offer "to provide qualified and experienced personnel to support Haiti in undertaking its priority agenda and responsibilities.

"This support will include technical expertise in public administration, and fiscal and fiduciary policy. They agreed to give high priority to mobilising the financial resources to make this possible. Both parties committed to mobilising the Caribbean and Haitian Diaspora to provide some of the required technical skills and investments."

The statement said the meeting acknowledged the need for improved information flow and agreed to developing and implementing a public information strategy to keep the Haitian people and CARICOM citizenry more generally fully informed and to solicit their feedback.

"The aide-mémoire acknow-ledged the value of engaging the Haitian/private sector in the process for recovery and economic development. The Government of Haiti promised to ensure its fullest participation in advancing the work on the development of the CARICOM/Haiti Fund to facilitate private-sector investment in Haiti," the statement added.