28202: Craig (news) New Haiti leader seeks boost in $1B aid plan (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From:  Dan Craig


New Haiti leader seeks boost in $1 bln aid plan
30 Mar 2006 16:24:43 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Gilbert Le Gras NEW YORK, March 30 (Reuters) - Haitian President-elect Rene 
Preval will host a meeting of 26 foreign aid bodies this summer to extend a $1 
billion aid program and seek new funds to help his country, the most 
impoverished in the Americas, sources familiar with the talks said on Thursday.

The sources spoke after Preval's whirlwind U.S. tour this week of donors, which 
kicked off Monday with an appeal to governments at the United Nations to step 
up development aid to his impoverished Caribbean nation or put democracy at 
risk.

Preval, elected in February and due to take office next month, seeks to press 
for additional funds to meet goals ranging from primary education for all 
students, restoring electricity services and expanding health care.

The sources said the meeting of the aid umbrella group for Haiti -- known as 
the International Cooperation Framework -- is scheduled for early this summer 
in Port-au-Prince.

So far the ICF aid program has paid out more than $700 million of the $1.08 
billion pledged in July 2004.

The sources spoke to Reuters Thursday after Preval, a one-time ally of ousted 
former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, met this week in Washington 
with President George W. Bush and top officials at the International Monetary 
Fund, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and the Organization of 
American States.

These international bodies, as well as foreign governments including major 
donors like the United States, Canada and France, are coordinating their 
assistance through the ICF aid program, drafted two years ago to address 
Haiti's many needs.

$390 A YEAR PER CAPITA INCOME

The World Bank estimates annual per capita income in Haiti around $390 while 
the United Nations puts an average Haitian's life expectancy in the early 50s.

The International Monetary Fund said this week that it could begin the process 
of approving low-interest loans to Haiti, if the country meets the terms of 
global debt relief program for the world's poorest countries.

Other items on multilateral lenders' agenda before the donors' conference in 
Haiti include territorial and transportation development, electrification, and 
technical assistance.

The new aid conference set for mid-year should also discuss extending the ICF 
program through to December 2007 from its original expiration date in 
September, the sources said.

The ICF has involved more than 200 national and international experts from 26 
bilateral and multilateral donors.


http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N30270325.htm