Hundreds of investors in Haiti for two-day forum

[Sasaye]

Hundreds of investors in Haiti for two-day forum
JACQUELINE CHARLES The Miami Herald

Haiti kicked off a two-day investment forum Monday with the inauguration of a major road, a new industrial park and announcement by hotel chain Marriott that it is coming to the country.
By JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@MiamiHerald.com

CARACOL, Haiti -- Haiti backers heralded some good news Monday for the earthquake ravaged Haiti: 44 miles of newly asphalted road, a new 605-acre industrial park in the north that will attract 65,000 jobs and a marquee hotel brand.

“This is a very special day. It is truly a day of change,” Luis Alberto Moreno, the head of the Inter-American Development Bank said Monday.

The bank, which invests hundreds of millions of dollars in Haiti, is sponsoring a two-day investment forum in Port-au-Prince beginning Tuesday. So far, 1,000 people have registered, 500 of them business people from 29 countries.

As attendees began pouring into the country and taking over every available hotel room, the IDB, President Michel Martelly, Prime Minister Garry Conille and former U.S. President Bill Clinton spent the day spreading the news in back-to-back events across the country.

Early Monday, Moreno and Martelly inaugurated a newly rehabilitated Route National 1, the country’s main road that connects the capital in the south to Cap-Haitien in the north. The symbolic ribbon-cutting culminated three years of construction by the Dominican road building firm Estrella.

Later they joined Clinton and Conille in laying the first stone of the new industrial park, an investment worth more than $300 million.
The park’s first tenants include one of Korea’s biggest clothing manufactures, Sae-A, which will eventually employ 20,000 people.

About 5,000 new houses will surround the area, courtesy of the IDB and U.S. Agency for International Development.

“This is the kind of change we want,” Martelly said. “This is what they call durable development.”

But that development Clinton, reminded Haitian authorities and donors, has come about because Haitians and donors worked together.

“If people keep working together, we can give you the future you deserve,” he said.

And that future, will soon include the Marriott name. The hotel announced late in the afternoon that it will open its first full-fledged Marriott hotel in Haiti in two years. The $45 million 173-room hotel is a partnership with telecom giant, Digicel.

“Today is Bob the Builder day in Haiti,” Denis O’Brien, the owner of Digicel said, referring to the projects’ previously announced and his coming hotel.

“By doing this hotel, we hope that this is going to be a message to other foreign direct investors, ‘Come on in.’ ”

Arnie Sorenson, president and chief operating officer for Marriott International, said the earthquake “opened our eyes” to Haiti.

“We are not here saying we are doing this because of good social work.
That is obviously an extra special feature because of where Haiti is at,’’
Sorenson said. “It needs to continue to develop, stabilize after the earthquake, continue to bring in foreign direct investment and have commerce, and tell people it’s a safe place to invest. Our being involved helps all of those things.”



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/28/2522554/hundreds-of-investors-in-haiti.html#ixzz1f80GLido

[Le gros roseau]

Finally some good news.It is about time .Could martelly succeed where his predecessors failed?Let's keep our eyes open and our mind free of any prejudices.We don't want President Martelly to fail because his failure will be a failure of all haitians.he said he will create 500.000 jobs ,I think he could if he understands the dynamics of economic development.yes this question is important: why in a country where there are so many things to be done there are so many people unemployed?Haitians are not lazy.

michel martelly must understand there are certain priorities right now that must be taking care of:Restore the authority of the state to create a sense fo security in the country.Clean the country of all these garbages.eradicate the cholera and all the diseases that consitute a threat to the well being of visitors.find ways to create jobs for the young people by giving them the tools they need to earn a living.The kidnapings and the killings of innocent people must stop by all means necessary.The effectif of the pNH must be increased immediately.There must be more secure prisons in the country, the justice system must be functional.

Building schools is not enough to have a functional schools system;there must be a honest evaluation of what the teachers are teaching in these schools.Are we going to perpetuate that system where our children spend 12 years to learn how to speak and write french or are we going to teach them math and sciences so they can compete in the world market?I feel so sorry for young haitians.I know they are not dumb ,but it is the school system which is not preparing them to become good entreprenors. good engineers, good doctors.good brick layers, good mechanics, good carpenters, good cabinet makers.good electricians,good air conditionning technicians.good lab technicians, good nurses, good X ray technicians etc.We need more people who can produce more goods and services for our people so we can diminish our imports and increase our exports.

[Marc H]

500,000 emplois que prévoyait créer le parti Fanmi Lavalas sous la présidence de Jean Bertrand Aristide dans les années 2002-2003 si le coup d'état n'avait pas eu lieu. Je cite la page 21 du livre Blanc du parti Fanmi Lavalas : INVESTIR DAN L'HUMAIN

Politique économique ;

Résultats attendus de la politique économique que le parti comptait appliquer :

Une croissance du PIB

Une réduction du taux d'inflation

Une diminution du taux de chômage par la création de 500,000 emplois durables pouvant assurer des revenus substantiels à une bonne partie de la population.

Moyens

Mobiliser des ressources nationales

Attirer , par des avantages fiscaux les capitaux haitiens ainsi que les capitaux étrangers.

On ne refait pas la roue .

Source

Investir dans l'humain , novembre 2000
Fanmi Lavalas

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