President Preval Proposes Aid to Haiti be Coordinated from the Dominican Republic

President Preval Proposes Aid to Haiti be Coordinated from the Dominican Republic

Haitian President René Preval proposed on Monday that the monitoring of aid arriving to help his devastated country be coordinated from the Dominican Republic, due to the proximity of the two countries and the initiatives toward this goal taken by President Leonel Fernández.

“The recovery of Haiti is the responsibility of the Haitians,” said President René Preval, stressing that there should be reinforcement of economic policies, creation of more jobs and improvements in agriculture.

After speaking at the summit “United for a Better Future for Haiti,” held in the National Palace of the Dominican Republic, the Haitian leader considered as fundamental the appropriate coordination of donations for his country and reiterated his appreciation to the Dominican leader for his initiatives to help mitigate the effects of the earthquake, according to the President’s Office of Information, Press, and Publicity.

The leader emphasized that the Haitian people are grateful to President Leonel Fernández for being the first foreign leader to visit the country and for the show of solidarity and support from the Dominican government and added that Haitians feel great pride, sympathy and affection for the ongoing gestures of solidarity from the Dominicans in these times of crisis. President Preval proposed that the ties of friendship be strengthened between the two countries that share the island of Hispaniola.

In his speech, President Preval qualified the international aid arriving to Haiti as “rapid, targeted, and massive,” but he warned that the nation’s recovery needs short- and long-term policies.

“The recovery of Haiti is the responsibility of the Haitians,” said President René Preval, stressing that there should be reinforcement of economic policies, creation of more jobs and improvements in agriculture.

In the event, an initiative of President Fernández, representatives gathered from various different international cooperative organizations. The Vice President of Spain, Maria Teresa Fernández de la Vega, also spoke, congratulating the Dominican government for the initiative of convening them to achieve the reconstruction of Haiti.

“This is why President Fernández has brought us together here. To explore the best way to approach this situation not only addressing the urgent humanitarian needs, which are enormous and of course are our primary concern, but also to seek medium-term and long-term responses, strategies that ensure political, economic and social stability and viability of the Haitian state,” the Spanish VP stressed.

She said that the European Union plans to donate 122 million Euros to help the Republic of Haiti recover from the earthquake’s damage.