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DIXIE-ANN DICKSON, Published: 20 Aug 2009
Luc Espéca, Haitian deputy director-general, Ministry of Trade and Industry, left, is greeted by Ambassador Luis Fernando Andrade Falla, secretary-general, Association of Caribbean States (ACS), at the ACS office, Sweet Briar Road, St Clair, during a three-day visit to T&T last week.
Deep-pocketed investors want to pump millions in Haiti.
The Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF) has launched the Haiti Invest Project, an equity-investment programme with an initial commitment of up to US$25 million. The SEDF is a non-profit private foundation, which is part of the network of charitable foundations created by investor and philanthropist, George Soros. Established in 1997, the fund’s mission is to make financial investments to assist in alleviating poverty and community deterioration.
Haiti Invest has already approached potential partners in an effort to significantly expand this initial capitalisation by a factor of six, up to US$150 million. It is considering investments in garment manufacturing, agriculture, logistics, tourism, energy and housing. Investors like Rolando Gonzalez Bunster, of Basic Energy Ltd, has offered to install five windmills totalling eight megawatts. These new Vestas windmills are already in knockdown form in the Dominican Republic and could provide renewable energy at competitive prices in Haiti within a few months.
James Lee Witt, former director of the United States’ Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), who travelled with former US President Bill Clinton to Haiti in July 2009, has committed US$250,000 to provide disaster preparedness training for women in Haiti. The Witt team is scheduled to visit Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and possible training sites on a fact-finding mission in the next 10 days. The United Nations is also assisting in this effort and identifying partners in civil society and the Haitian government to ensure the new training programmes do not duplicate or undermine existing initiatives.
Irish businessman Michael Carey and a group of Irish business people, who recently established the Soul of Haiti Foundation after several visits to Haiti, have offered to host a delegation of Haitian business people during a visit to Ireland in October.
ACS Business Forum
To attract greater investor interest, the Haitian government and the Association of the Caribbean States (ACS), will be hosting the Tenth Business Forum in Haiti from October 21-24. The three-day forum would be held at the Karibe Hotel and Convention Centre in Port-au-Prince. Among the attendees will be Clinton, who would be working in tandem with some of the investors. This event would provide a platform for Clinton and other countries to engage in efforts at developing Haiti.
Luc Espéca, Haitian deputy director-general, Ministry of Trade and Industry, said this during a telephone interview with the Business Guardian last Friday. Especa said the objective of the forum is to promote trade, investment and exchange of knowledge, as well as business opportunities among entrepreneurs in the region and business people from other parts of the world.
Investment opportunities
Especa said Haiti has a lot of opportunities for investment in areas such as tourism, which is a very promising sector, with 1,500 kilometres of coastline just waiting to be exploited. Apart from the beaches, Especa said Haiti has great tourism products like first-class hotels and the Citadel, an historic site which the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) classified as a World Heritage Site. Especa said the Citadel has become an icon of Haiti.
He said agri-business was another promising sector for investment, but noted that Haiti has undeveloped land which can be used to lay down modern infrastructure. Most importantly, Especa said these investments can be facilitated as the Haitian government is committed to a free market system. He identified Digicel, the Irish telecommunications provider, as one of Haiti’s largest investors.
Fostering partnerships
Especa said that the forum, themed, Building Partnerships in the Caribbean, is not an opportunity only for Haiti, but the entire Caribbean as it would build relationships between the Caribbean states. Ambassador Luis Fernando Andrade Falla, secretary general, ACS, said in addition to the 28 ACS members countries, dignitaries from China, Taiwan, Brazil and Canada are expected to attend the forum. Also, T&T Prime Minister Patrick Manning, government ministers and officials from the private sector will also be there. Especa said Haiti hopes to achieve good results from the various business organisations and build partnerships, create job opportunities and social stability.