President Fernández Heads Meeting for Haiti-DR Technical Missions

President Fernández Heads Meeting for Haiti-DR Technical Missions

Dominican President, Leonel Fernández, headed a meeting last Saturday involving Haitian and Dominican technical teams that widely discussed the details of a plan of action to rebuild the city of Port-au-Prince, devastated by the January 12th earthquake

“For the Dominican people and the government, it is a great satisfaction to be able to hold this technical meeting to defend a short term plan that will be carried out as a response to the needs that arose from the earthquake as well as a longer term, …”

The event, also attended by Haiti’s Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, sought to identify as priorities the construction of houses, school, guarantee food security and the development of agriculture, according to the President’s Office of Information, Press and Publicity.

“For the Dominican people and the government, it is a great satisfaction to be able to hold this technical meeting to defend a short term plan that will be carried out as a response to the needs that arose from the earthquake as well as a longer term, sustainable program of growth and of economic and social development for the Republic of Haiti,” said President Fernández.

The President reiterated that the main protagonist in the search for solutions is the people of Haiti, and that the Dominican Republic will only be offering its services and collaboration to achieve the best results and benefits for the Haitian people.

The Head of State affirmed that they discussed concrete and specific issues that allowed them draw up a plan that will be expressed in initiatives, programs and actions through the identification of costs and establishing funding sources and support from the international community.

The Haitian Prime Minister took advantage of the meeting to reiterate his appreciation for the help and solidarity the Dominican government and people have given to their neighbors during these difficult moments.

“This meeting is evidence of the strengthening of relations between the Dominican and Haitian people and another example of the great solidarity shown by President Fernandez’s government”, said Jean-Max Bellerive.

Bellerive said it is necessary for his nation to begin its reconstruction process with whatever it has at hand, and to do so even before the international community reaches agreements on how to rebuild the devastated county. If not, he said they run the risk of revisiting old social, economic and political problems that could aggravate the already difficult situation.

The plan of action will be considered by the donor countries at a meeting in Santo Domingo scheduled to be held on March 17-18. It was also agreed that the World Conference on Haiti’s Future would be delayed until June 2, to allow time for a mini-summit scheduled for March 31 at the United Nations in New York.