Latortue calls on UNIDO to come and help Haiti

Latortue calls on UNIDO to come and help Haiti

Monday 28 November 2005



By Charles Arthur

Vienna, 28 Nov. 05 [AlterPresse] --- Addressing the opening session of
the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in
Vienna, Austria, interim prime minister, Gérard Latortue, today said the
UN agency should end its neglect of Haiti.

At a press conference the same day, Latortue told AlterPresse that he
would be speaking to the current UNIDO director-general, Dr. Carlos
Magariños, and his designated successor, Dr. Kandeh Yumkella, while in
Vienna, and would ask the agency to assist in three particular areas.
"UNIDO can help with investment, and specifically with the construction
and agro-industry sectors," he stated.

Regarding the first focal point, Latortue said his government had
recently established a facilitating office to help potential investors
get around administrative and structural obstacles, and UNIDO could help
to consolidate this office.

As for the construction industry, the prime minister said that with
UNIDO’s help, Haiti could revive its cement production, and within five
years could transform itself from an importer to an exporter of cement.
Mr Latortue also noted that Haiti needs to produce its own cement as
part of the effort to construct more roads throughout the country. "In
Haiti, we need cement roads because we don’t produce asphalt and, in any
case, such roads don’t survive in Haiti because we have no maintenance
culture. "

Thirdly, he drew attention to a new partnership with the government of
Brazil to transform tropical fruits into more easily marketable exports.
For example, he said UNIDO could provide expertise and advice on ways to
transform mangoes - which often perish before they can be delivered to
export markets - into juice or dried fruit which can then be transported
to overseas markets much more easily.

Latortue told AlterPresse that he hopes to conclude a protocol of
agreement with UNIDO later today, and that he would be inviting a UNIDO
assessment mission to visit the country in January 2006 to prepare for
the eventual establishment of a field office in Haiti.

During his address to the opening session of the UNIDO conference,
Latortue noted that UNIDO - which is responsible for promoting
industrialization throughout the developing world - had been
"practically absent" from Haiti over the last ten years.

The interim prime minister, who himself worked for UNIDO for twenty-two
years, said that now that the country is "in the process of a successful
transition to democracy by organizing free and fair elections on 8
January and 15 February 2006, the time has come for UNIDO to consider
setting up an office in Haiti, from where it can cover the whole
Caribbean region".

Latortue said that, as the only Least Developed Country in the Latin
America and Caribbean region, Haiti needs UNIDO.

Latortue had expressed his hope that UNIDO would join with the UNDP and
other friends of Haiti in implementing the Interim Cooperation Framework
(ICF) for economic development. Questioned on the lack of civil society
consultation during the ICF process in 2004, Mr Latortue remembered that
US President Clinton had once labeled these people, the "Morally
Repugnant Elite". He stated that the private sector had failed to do
anything for economic development in Haiti for decades, but that as soon
as there were discussions on economic planning, the chambers of commerce
from certain regions in the country wanted to exercise control.

When asked about the failure of the ICF process to consult with civil
society organizations representing the majority population, such as
peasant organizations and local non-governmental organizations, Latortue
replied, "There really aren’t many organizations of that type in Haiti.
There are really very few peasant organizations. But I do work with
Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, the leader of the Papay Peasant Movement (MPP),
and, as far as peasant organizations go, he is the one."

The interim prime minister told AlterPresse that Chavannes Jean-Baptiste
was one of his many consultants, and that many other experts who had
been ignored by the Aristide government were now being consulted. He
said, "We have made a start at consultation, and let’s say its about
10-15%. I hope the next government takes it forward to 50%".

Finally, returning to the question of economic development in Haiti, Mr
Latortue said he was hopeful that the HOPE Act [1] - US legislation to
give textiles assembled in Haiti preferential access to the US market -
would be passed by the US Congress before the end of the year. This
measure would, he said, go some way to restoring the health of the
textile assembly industry in Haiti.

He also stressed that an improvement in the security situation, and the
completion of an ambitious road-building program, would hopefully permit
Haiti to benefit from a revival in tourism. "We have an huge island the
size of Guadeloupe, just off the coast of Port-au-Prince, that is virgin
territory", said Latortue. "Imagine a golf course and hotels on La
Gonâve, - the same sort of development that they have at Puerto Plata in
the Dominican Republic!"

Responding to a question from the Austrian state television company,
ORF, about his plans for the future in relation to the repeatedly
delayed elections to elect a new government, Latortue said he would
resign on 7 February 2006 as he had always said he would. "We will hold
the reins until the new government takes power on 24 February, but there
will be no new initiatives or new legislation after 7 February." [ca gp
apr 11/28/2005 11:35]



[1] The HOPE Act is the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through
Partnership Encouragement Act


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