Haiti Libre:

On Thursday, the Minister of Planning and External Cooperation, Laurent Lamothe, also Prime Minister, accompanied by Vernet Joseph, Secretary of State for the recovery of agricultural production continued its series of meetings to aimed at assessing the portfolio of international cooperation with international agencies and donors.

Portfolio Review of France :
At 10:00 am at the Ministry of Planning, the Head of Government has started discussions with its partners, including the French Ambassador of France accredited to Haiti, Patrick Nicoloso and Yves Malpel, the Director of the French Development Agency (AFD) in Haiti.

Prime Minister Lamothe revisited in conjunction with members of the French delegation, the various projects underway in the country.

“The French donors intervene on numerous projects related to agriculture, infrastructure construction, governance, strengthening the police, education, culture and social affairs,” explained Ambassador Nicoloso “With French cooperation the country benefits from an agricultural project valued at €16 million. A total of €6MM is expected to carry out the development projects of some neighborhoods of Cap-Haitien and Gonaives.

In the field of education during the 2012-2013 academic year, France has granted 267 scholarships to Haitian students, 1,700 students who were unable to benefit from scholarships were enrolled in French universities, 5 digital spaces have been installed at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy (FMP).”

The Ambassador of France took the opportunity to remember that Haiti is on the list of priority countries for French cooperation. In addition, Paris is preparing to host, during the second half of 2014, a Haitian art exhibit in order to contribute to promoting the image of Haiti with other international partners.

For his part, the Minister Lamothe, found that a total of 15 projects resulting from this cooperation, 8 require intervention of the Haitian Government, recalling that this important partner of Haiti, had a budget of €101 million for the implementation of promising projects in the country.

UNDP portfolio review :
With the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Prime Minister Lamothe has reviewed the various projects that UNDP runs on the national territory especially those that relate to the protection of the environment, reduction of natural hazards, the collection and management of debris, support the institutional capacity building, social protection and governance.

During her presentation, Ms. Sophie De Caen, the UNDP representative in Haiti, said that “11 watersheds have been restored, 2,000 hectares of land reforested. The United Nations Development has actively contributed to the development of a seismic zoning map of the city of Port-au-Prince and the Northern Department.”

In terms of institutional capacity, Ms. Caen noted that UNDP has, in part, contributed to the formation of 2,700 police officers and secondly, providing support to institutions such the Unit of Housing Construction and of Public Buildings (UCLBP) and the Fund of Economic and Social Assistance (FAES).

In the health sector, UNDP gave support in 2012 to 40,000 people living with advanced HIV infection who have been able to benefited from the antiretroviral program.

At the end of her presentation, Ms. De Caen reiterated the commitment of UNDP to work with the Haitian government to support the country in areas related to resilience to major natural hazards, the effectiveness of external assistance and Phase II of the program 16/6.

After having spent more than four hours to discuss with the representatives of France and UNDP, the Minister Lamothe said he was satisfied with the smooth running of these meetings and renewed his determination to continue the dialogue with international donors in view of a reframing of the external development assistance.