Patterson tells businesses to grab commercial opportunity in Haiti
Published:Friday | January 28, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer
Former Jamaica Prime Minister P.J. Patterson has challenged the Caribbean business community to get involved in the rebuilding of Haiti.
He believes that country, which was shattered by an earthquake one year ago, may hold the key to regional renewal.
Patterson, a regional envoy to Haiti, was one of the speakers Wednesday at the Jamaica Stock Exchange's three-day symposium on investment and capital markets in Kingston.
He said with most Caribbean economies not expected to recover from the international recession in the next three years, Haiti could be the region's unlikely saviour.
"The Caribbean needs a game-changer and I want to submit that Haiti could be that game-changer," Patterson stressed.
He said the Inter-American Development Bank had committed US$11.5 billion to restructure Haiti's public sector, a commitment that is bound to attract international interest.
Patterson said rebuilding Haiti will require expertise in agriculture, tourism and construction. Given the destruction caused by the earthquake, the construction sector will demand the most manpower to rebuild roads, schools, hotels and hospitals.
That muscle, Patterson stated, should come from the Caribbean.
"If we don't get our share others will take it, and we will have no one to blame but ourselves," he said.
Patterson disclosed that CARICOM recently proposed a CARICOM-Haiti Fund to channel loans to prospective investors in Haiti.
He said a technical team is currently forming a committee to direct the fund which hopes to have a start-up budget of US$100 million, with an ultimate chest of US$1 billion.
Most of the funds would come from CARICOM members, bi-lateral and multilateral agencies, private- and public-sector interests and private donors from the Haitian and Caribbean diaspora.
"I see major possibilities for our commercial banks, our development banks, our EXIM banks and the stock exchange," Patterson said. "We regard the CARICOM-Haiti Fund as an ideal vehicle to spur the development which is necessary."
Patterson was a vocal advocate for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) which was launched in 2006 to encourage easier trade and market access within the bloc.
He blamed a lack of enthusiasm from CARICOM members for the CSME's failure to get off the ground and warned that a similar response will result in them being shut out of a resurgent Haiti.
CARICOM appointed Patterson Special Envoy to Haiti in the aftermath of the 7.5-magnitude earthquake that destroyed most of Port-au-Prince, the country's capital.
According to figures from the United Nations, more than 250,000 persons were killed and one million left homeless.
The earthquake was another devastating blow for Haiti's brittle economy, which had been hit by a succession of tropical storms and hurricanes.
Haiti was admitted to full CARICOM membership in 1999.