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View Full Version : Better days ahead for Haiti



NewsWhore
10-01-2009, 06:00 PM
Economic improvements in Haiti are the best of news for the DR. A business mission visiting Haiti this week bodes well. Former US President Bill Clinton is optimistic that Haiti is well placed to pull itself out of its current state of grinding poverty. Clinton, who is the UN Special Envoy for Haiti, is leading a conference of investors that could make the difference.
Part of Mr. Clinton's mandate as UN Special Envoy is to help encourage more private sector investment in Haiti. The 2-day business mission with 200 businessmen now in Haiti is part of this effort. The meeting is sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank to analyze opportunities in tourism, textiles, farming and alternative energy generation in Haiti. Clinton mentioned that Miami-based Royal Caribbean has plans for a nearly US$55 million investment in Labadee on the northern coast.
"Haiti is open to business," Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis told participants today.
Clinton told the Miami Herald in an interview about the initiative: "Now there is a determination that sweeps right through Latin America and the Caribbean to do what can be done to bring Haiti into the family of Latin America, to bring Haiti into our hemisphere's future, not to have it isolated out there as the poorest country."
Investors attending this week's trade summit include Rolando Bunster, who is working with the Haitian government on clean energy. The plan is to install an initial five windmills with eight megawatts of capacity. Bunster is a major investor in power generation in the DR.
See: www.daylife.com/article/07FQ1VX0Xd4Pk?q=Haiti (http://www.daylife.com/article/07FQ1VX0Xd4Pk?q=Haiti)

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