(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) “Haiti should be seen and treated as an opportunity. Despite its difficulties, it represents a good opportunity for the Region, an opportunity for each CARICOM country,” His Excellency Michel Martelly, President of Haiti and Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) told the Region on Monday.
Delivering the keynote address at the opening of the historic Twenty-Fourth Intersessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, President Martelly marketed his homeland as a country of nearly ten million people, with unsuspected natural assets and a rich cultural heritage that could make a serious contribution to the health of the economies of the Community.
“Ultimately”, he pointed out, “a Haitian economy that works best serves the interests of CARICOM, thus expanding its market and its possibilities of being more competitive.”
He told the gathering of fellow Heads of Government, delegates and distinguished guests that the Haitian economy needed to be supported by productive investment in order to be viable, and highlighted significant advances that had been made in this regard, particularly by a Haitian-Jamaican company. The company invested $10M in the production of poultry feed, generating 80 direct jobs and more than 3 000 indirect jobs. This “fine example” should be welcomed and followed, he said.
President Martelly characterize Haiti’s membership of CARICOM as a “positive fact” and promised that his country would take all the steps necessary to fully and completely play its role in the Community. In this regard, he said that he had already given instructions to accelerate the process of harmonization of national legislation with Community standards. He gave the assurance that measures would be taken with respect to ensuring that the country’s regime in trade and goods is in good order.
The Haitian President also sold his country as a good provider of agri-food products on the one hand, and on the other, as an outlet for products from the Region.
In his address, President Martelly also addressed the challenges the Region faced focusing on matters related to crime and security, a major agenda item of the Meeting; climate change; transportation; and the free movement of skilled nationals.
The Intersessional Meeting marked the first time since becoming a member of CARICOM in 2002 that Haiti was hosting a Heads of Government Meeting. Haiti assumed the Chairmanship of the Community for six months in January, 2013. President Martelly told the Meeting that it was his goal to ensure, “with the grandeur and prestige required”, the leadership of the integration process in order to leave a legacy of a strengthened, united and “even more dynamic” Caribbean Community.
