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Aid donors in Montreal to look beyond Haiti relief
Source: Agencies |
January 25, 2010, Monday
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HAITIAN Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and other key figures will begin planning today how to move from immediate humanitarian relief for the lethal earthquake in his country to long-term reconstruction.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and others will examine eventual debt forgiveness and a strategy to rebuild from a quake that killed up to 200,000 people.
"We are all looking at the terrible situation in your country, and the task ahead of you is unimaginable," Harper told Bellerive in Ottawa yesterday afternoon ahead of the one-day Haiti conference in Montreal.
"So you're not alone. We'll be working together at the conference tomorrow and in the weeks, months and years to come to rebuild your country."
Bellerive is under heavy pressure in his own country to speed up immediate help to his people, and acknowledged the frustration of the populace, many of whom have lost their homes, families and all their possessions.
"I'm extremely impressed as prime minister by the resilience of the people. You hear a lot about violence, but it's not true in Haiti," he told Harper.
"People are waiting with a lot of frustration, clearly, but with a lot of patience."
Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon told reporters ahead of the conference that one of the options that will eventually be considered is forgiving Haiti's debt, estimated by relief groups to be just over US$1 billion.
"I think that is certainly something that will be considered among the different options that are available," he said.
He added, however, that it might be "a little premature" for it to be done at this conference, which he said would be more engaged in setting out a road map for how to proceed in the country.
Before the quake hit, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and several lending nations had already forgiven a great deal of Haiti's debt, simply on the grounds of need.
The Paris Club of creditor nations, grouping major lenders including the United States, Canada, France and Britain, said last week it would speed up the process of providing debt relief, and called on Taiwan and Venezuela, two major creditors not part of the Paris Club, to join in.
Haiti's neighbor on the island of Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic, proposed to international donors last Monday the creation of a US$10 billion five-year assistance program for Haiti.
Canadian officials said the conference would not likely emerge with a total of pledged aid but rather a clearer idea of what the needs are. It also aims to decide on the date and venue for a pledging conference.
In addition to hoping for concrete progress in seeing what needs to be done for Haiti, to a certain extent leaders may also be trying to be seen to be active, so as to avoid the sort of criticism of being slow off the mark that characterized relief for the Indian Ocean tsunami five years ago or Hurricane Katrina four years ago.
The conference will also help Canada's Harper focus domestic attention away from what had been scheduled to be the resumption of the Canadian Parliament on January 25. He arranged last month for its suspension until March 3 after the Vancouver Olympics, coming under heavy opposition attacks for doing so.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and others will examine eventual debt forgiveness and a strategy to rebuild from a quake that killed up to 200,000 people.
"We are all looking at the terrible situation in your country, and the task ahead of you is unimaginable," Harper told Bellerive in Ottawa yesterday afternoon ahead of the one-day Haiti conference in Montreal.
"So you're not alone. We'll be working together at the conference tomorrow and in the weeks, months and years to come to rebuild your country."
Bellerive is under heavy pressure in his own country to speed up immediate help to his people, and acknowledged the frustration of the populace, many of whom have lost their homes, families and all their possessions.
"I'm extremely impressed as prime minister by the resilience of the people. You hear a lot about violence, but it's not true in Haiti," he told Harper.
"People are waiting with a lot of frustration, clearly, but with a lot of patience."
Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon told reporters ahead of the conference that one of the options that will eventually be considered is forgiving Haiti's debt, estimated by relief groups to be just over US$1 billion.
"I think that is certainly something that will be considered among the different options that are available," he said.
He added, however, that it might be "a little premature" for it to be done at this conference, which he said would be more engaged in setting out a road map for how to proceed in the country.
Before the quake hit, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and several lending nations had already forgiven a great deal of Haiti's debt, simply on the grounds of need.
The Paris Club of creditor nations, grouping major lenders including the United States, Canada, France and Britain, said last week it would speed up the process of providing debt relief, and called on Taiwan and Venezuela, two major creditors not part of the Paris Club, to join in.
Haiti's neighbor on the island of Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic, proposed to international donors last Monday the creation of a US$10 billion five-year assistance program for Haiti.
Canadian officials said the conference would not likely emerge with a total of pledged aid but rather a clearer idea of what the needs are. It also aims to decide on the date and venue for a pledging conference.
In addition to hoping for concrete progress in seeing what needs to be done for Haiti, to a certain extent leaders may also be trying to be seen to be active, so as to avoid the sort of criticism of being slow off the mark that characterized relief for the Indian Ocean tsunami five years ago or Hurricane Katrina four years ago.
The conference will also help Canada's Harper focus domestic attention away from what had been scheduled to be the resumption of the Canadian Parliament on January 25. He arranged last month for its suspension until March 3 after the Vancouver Olympics, coming under heavy opposition attacks for doing so.
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