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International community meets for Haiti talks
Source: Agencies |
January 25, 2010, Monday
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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Haiti's prime minister and foreign ministers from a host of nations meet in Montreal today to try to improve relief efforts in the international community's first meeting since Haiti's devastating earthquake.
Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said Sunday that the conference will review the progress of aid delivery to Haiti since the Jan. 12 earthquake and lay the groundwork for a larger meeting that will focus on long-term reconstruction.
Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive arrived in Canada ahead of the conference for a Sunday meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
"The task ahead of you is unimaginable," Harper said to Bellerive before the two began private talks. "I say to you Jean-Max as a fellow prime minister, I just can't imagine."
Bellerive expressed his gratitude to Canada and said he came to discuss the support that will be needed.
"But we are fully conscious that the prime responsibility for our future lies in the hands of the Haitian government and the Haitian people," he added.
Harper and foreign ministers from more than a dozen countries, eight international bodies and six major non-governmental organizations will convene today.
"It's not a donor or pledging conference," Cannon said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "It's to make sure we have an action plan. We want to coordinate better in the short term and make sure we all know who is doing what and how."
Cannon said one goal is to "physically get the Haitian government back on its feet." The quake destroyed key government buildings, including the National Palace, hampering the work of what was already a weak and inefficient state.
"They don't have any offices," Cannon said. "I was chatting with Mrs. Clinton the other day. She mentioned that an American government building remained intact and said they were turning it over to the Haitian government so that they could at least set up temporary offices."
Cannon said the morning session will take stock of the aid efforts. He said ministers will hear from Bellerive, the United Nations and non-governmental agencies like the Red Cross.
Ministers will meet in the afternoon to work on the steps needed ahead of the larger reconstruction conference, where money will be pledged. Cannon said he expects the date and location of that conference to be announced Monday.
Governments have pledged nearly US$1 billion in aid to Haiti, according to an Associated Press estimate, including US$575 million from the European Union's 27 nations.
Monday's meeting comes as a global army of aid workers was delivering more food into people's hands in Haiti, but the efforts were still falling short. UN World Food Program chief Josette Sheeran, visiting Port-au-Prince, said Sunday said aid groups wished they could do more and do it more quickly.
One Haitian government official said more than 150,000 victims have been buried by the government and that nobody knows how many bodies are buried in the rubble.
Canada has deep ties to Haiti. More than 100,000 people of Haitian descent live in Canada, most of them in Montreal.
After the Montreal meeting, Bellerive will travel to Ottawa to meet with Canada's Haitian-born governor general Michaelle Jean.
Jean, the representative of Queen Elizabeth II as Canada's head of state, broke down in tears during a press conference after the Jan. 12 earthquake. She said it's as if an atomic bomb had fallen on Port-au-Prince.
Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said Sunday that the conference will review the progress of aid delivery to Haiti since the Jan. 12 earthquake and lay the groundwork for a larger meeting that will focus on long-term reconstruction.
Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive arrived in Canada ahead of the conference for a Sunday meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
"The task ahead of you is unimaginable," Harper said to Bellerive before the two began private talks. "I say to you Jean-Max as a fellow prime minister, I just can't imagine."
Bellerive expressed his gratitude to Canada and said he came to discuss the support that will be needed.
"But we are fully conscious that the prime responsibility for our future lies in the hands of the Haitian government and the Haitian people," he added.
Harper and foreign ministers from more than a dozen countries, eight international bodies and six major non-governmental organizations will convene today.
"It's not a donor or pledging conference," Cannon said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "It's to make sure we have an action plan. We want to coordinate better in the short term and make sure we all know who is doing what and how."
Cannon said one goal is to "physically get the Haitian government back on its feet." The quake destroyed key government buildings, including the National Palace, hampering the work of what was already a weak and inefficient state.
"They don't have any offices," Cannon said. "I was chatting with Mrs. Clinton the other day. She mentioned that an American government building remained intact and said they were turning it over to the Haitian government so that they could at least set up temporary offices."
Cannon said the morning session will take stock of the aid efforts. He said ministers will hear from Bellerive, the United Nations and non-governmental agencies like the Red Cross.
Ministers will meet in the afternoon to work on the steps needed ahead of the larger reconstruction conference, where money will be pledged. Cannon said he expects the date and location of that conference to be announced Monday.
Governments have pledged nearly US$1 billion in aid to Haiti, according to an Associated Press estimate, including US$575 million from the European Union's 27 nations.
Monday's meeting comes as a global army of aid workers was delivering more food into people's hands in Haiti, but the efforts were still falling short. UN World Food Program chief Josette Sheeran, visiting Port-au-Prince, said Sunday said aid groups wished they could do more and do it more quickly.
One Haitian government official said more than 150,000 victims have been buried by the government and that nobody knows how many bodies are buried in the rubble.
Canada has deep ties to Haiti. More than 100,000 people of Haitian descent live in Canada, most of them in Montreal.
After the Montreal meeting, Bellerive will travel to Ottawa to meet with Canada's Haitian-born governor general Michaelle Jean.
Jean, the representative of Queen Elizabeth II as Canada's head of state, broke down in tears during a press conference after the Jan. 12 earthquake. She said it's as if an atomic bomb had fallen on Port-au-Prince.
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