Haiti Libre:

The Prime Minister, Laurent Lamothe, and Fernando Frutuoso de Melo, Director General for Development and Cooperation of the European Union (EU) on Tuesday signed www.haitilibre.com/en/news-11440-haiti-economy-6-9-billion-gdes-in-budgetary-support-from-the-european-union.html a budget Convention amounting to 112 million euros. These funds will be used budgetary support over the next two years to boost reform in public administration, public financial management and improve access to education.

The signing of this Convention between Haiti and the European Union allowed also to launch the new EU budget support program. The funds that will help advance the reform of the State will also serve the social and economic progress of the Haitian people. “The 11th European Development Fund (EDF) provided for the period 2014-2020 grants € 420 million to Haiti for projects, among other things, in urban development, food and nutrition security, the protection of women,” said the Prime Minister, Laurent Lamothe Haitian in the resence of the Director of EU Development for Latin America, Ms. Jolita Butkevicienne, Head of the EU Delegation in Haiti, Javier Niño Perez and some members of his government.

Fernando Frutuoso de Melo believes that budgetary support perfectly illustrates the approach of the EU in cooperation with Haiti. “The European Union and the government have set specific objectives with clearly defined indicators to measure, through an ongoing sectoral policy dialogue, the progress that will be made.”

A modern taxation
The latter aims a better tax collection to generate more income own. Measures will be taken to increase social equity by making contribute more the large taxpayers to the collective effort. Among these actions, we can also mention the deployment of more accounting and financial controllers and the establishment of a single treasury account. This allows the state to have an overview of available liquidity and thus perform expenditure programs in a timely manner. The fight against corruption or even the improvement of Customs services are also on the menu of reforms.

A more efficient public administration
In regard to the modernization of the public service, the Government has undertaken, inter alia, to review the legal framework, to launch a large training plan, by the introduction of new competitions to modify the recruitment of officials.

Greater access to better quality education
The education sector constitutes a priority sector for the government and the cooperation Haiti European Union. Efforts to increase access to education will be pursued, but also the European Union will support investments to improve the quality of education. To this end, professional training for teachers will be implemented and targeted support to the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training will be provided.

An open dialogue with civil society and Parliament
Accountability and transparency of public action are at the heart of good governance and democracy. Dialogue that will accompany the new budget support program will therefore be also extended to Parliament and Haitian civil society, which are other key players of Haitian democracy. The challenge is to involve these actors to play their full role and help to ensure that governance is improved for the benefit of the entire Haitian society.

“[…] Our role as friend of Haiti is simply to help you to help yourself by accompanying you on this path,” has concluded Fernando Frutuoso de Melo.

HL/ S/ HaitiLibre