Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Ambassador
Irwin LaRocque and the Foreign Minister of Haiti, the Honourable Laurent
Lamothe on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
identifying of a number of areas in which CARICOM can assist its Member
State.
The signing of the MOU came at the end of the two-day Mission to
Haiti by the Bureau of Heads of Government of CARICOM led by Chairman
His Excellency Desi Bouterse, President of Suriname. The Rt Honourable
Dr Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis, the Honourable
Phillip Pierre, Deputy Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, representing his
Prime Minister, Dr the Honourable Kenny Anthony, and Secretary-General
LaRocque were the other members of the Bureau on the mission. The
Special Representative of the Heads of Government on Haiti, the Most
Honourable PJ Patterson was also a member of the delegation.
The delegation met with His Excellency Michel Martelly, President of
Haiti, and there was agreement that the support of CARICOM was of vital
importance for Haiti, and for the Community itself. Among the areas
agreed upon are: capacity building in government agencies for
investment; technical assistance in education, agriculture, public
health, transportation, tourism among others and youth exchange
initiatives.
At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, President Bouterse said
the visit had been most rewarding as the Bureau had heard from the
President, the cabinet, the private sector, and parliament how they
would wish CARICOM to work with them in the rebuilding and further
development of the country.
He urged the Haitian business community to take better advantage of
the agreement that allows some products to enter the rest of CARICOM
duty free for a three year period which began last year. The CARICOM
Chairman also assured the private sector that the Bureau would encourage
those Member States who had not yet done so to implement the decision
of the Heads of Government to allow entry for those business persons
with visas from the United States, Canada and the Schengen Area entry
into their state.
The Chairman also announced that “as part of our ongoing assistance
to Haiti, a consignment of three containers of anti-cholera drugs
provided by the |