Haiti - Island in the Caribbean Sea

Haiti, Rebirth of nation

A BEAUTIFUL ISLAND IN THE CENTER OF THE CARIBBEAN BASIN , HAITI IS LAYING TO REST THE POLITICAL STRIFE OF THE PAST .WITH IMPROVED INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND STABILITY , THE REPUBLIC HAS INTRODUCED EXCITING REFORMS TO ATTRACT INVESTORS.

Haitians will proudly tell you their country is the oldest blacked republic in the western Hemisphere , which last year celebrated 200 year of independence .if you stay a while and listen some more , they will point to a vibrant country of colorful art, fantastic music ,cloud forest and an intensely spiritual people whose humor and passion are legendary.

      But in recent year this dignified history has been overhadowned by political turmoil and civil strife ,and has left many of Haiti’s close to eight million inhabitants povertry-stricken and uncertain of the future.

        However, a new interim government, which took control in March 2004 ,has made encouraging strides to stabilize the country, while attracting investment from the international community and preparing for free elections.

Neighboring the Dominican republic on the island of Hispaniola and located 300 miles south of  Florida in the Caribbeans Sea Haiti is ideally positioned to serve as a commercial gateway in to the United States of America.This is the future which both interim President Boniface Alexandre and interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue envisage for the country .In particular, the Prime Minister ,a former foreign minister and UN official ,has committed to improving relations with other countries and potential forgein investors, as the frist steps in achieving this goal.

   “Haiti is back in the limelight of the international community for the right reasons,”he says .” Everyone realizes it has changed considerably in the past year and many dignitaries and business groups have visited from America, Latin America and Europe. Hope is returning to the Hatians.”

   This is welcome news for a nation which , due to year of political neglect – most recently under former president Jean baptiste Aristide who fled the country last year –has seen its economy flounder.

RECENT PAST

According to the world Bank, Haiti’s economy declined by an average of 0.2 per cent year during the 1980s,and shruck by 0.4 per cent per year in the 1990s.Today , the average per capita income is just US$480 a year, compared to some US$33,550 in the United States .

Radical ex-priest Aristide promised to tackle poverty and corruption in the country but the pyramid schemes that collapsed and ruined many people were the only real economic initiative of the Arisitide year .It is estimated Haitians lost US$200 million investing in these scams, known as co-operatives .Lured by promises of high returns, they sold cars and other valuables while the co-op founders acquired hotels ,petrol stations and transport firms on the proceeds. When the co-ops crumbled in 2002,so did the popular support for the former president.

 To revive Hait’s flagging economy , the new government has identified a number of areas requiring an overhaul, ranging from reform of state institutions to improved access to basic service. The estimated funding required for the entire two–year program is US$1.37bn.Already,US$315 millions has been pledged by donors such as the US, Canada, France and the EU ,while US$127 million has been made available from Haiti’s national budget.

LOOKING FORWARSD

 Prime Minister Latortue says his most pressing priority is to disarm and dismantle the street gangs, many of them supporters of Aristide, who still patrol the slum areas of the capital Port-au-Prince .He has also announced plans to decentralize government offices ,and improve tax collection services , and has granted pay rises to the 46,000 state employees.

 To allay fears about corruptions in the country ,he has spearheaded an Anti-Corruption Unit .”The fight against corruption is right at the top of the government’s agenda. It’s about making the workings of government efficient ,transparent and credible .”he says.

 Another major objective for Latortue is the realization of a program of development for the agricultural sector .In rural areas, where 60percent of the population lives, two thirds of the work force are involved in agricultural production. The limited technology available and the low level of capitalization of Haitian producers mean that the land’s capacity to sustain families’ revenue needs, in a context of strong population growth, has largely been exceeded.

Finance and economy minister Henri Bazin has already laid out plans for an extensive program of tropical tree planting to build on the country’s existing mango, coffee and sugar cane industries. ”Specializing in the production of tropical fruit could generate millions of dollars in the decades to come .”he says .It is also hoped this initiative will claw back some of the deforestation that has Haiti vulnerable to heavy rains, as witnessed last year when the impact of hurricane Jeanne left many Haitians homeless or without amenities.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT

Widely regarded as one of the poorest countries in the Americans, and with its economy stalling after two decades of negative growth, there is no doubt Haiti requires a massive ,far-reaching program of regeneration and the privatization of state-owned enterprises. But with being sought.

“Haiti today offers a lots of opportunities for foreign investors be be involved in privatization .” says Reginald Boulos president and director general of the chamber of Commerce un Haiti.” We are dedicated to offering our knowledge of he country’s business environment to help investors from abroad come in .”

   This intent is mirrored in recent legislation which offers incentives, including tax breaks and exemptions from custom duty, to investors demonstrating a long-term commitment to undertakings in the country. The Rehea Free Trade Zone has been setup in the north of the country ,where investment is most urgently needed, to encourage foreign companies into the region. Three more are under construction.

   To qualify for these rax holidays, firms coming to Haiti will have to show their enterprise will create new jobs and enable locals to learn new skills and gain professional qualifications. Haiti also wants to attract firms bringing new technologies with them and producing goods that can be exported.

According to Boulos, opportunities abound in many sectors. The electricity, water and transport industries ,he says are all being audited for privatization .he is also enthusiastic about the telecommunications sectors ,which represents a big market for foreign investors. Us companies ,such as Comcell and Western Wireless ,have already won licenses to supply cell phone network in Haiti, but there are opportunities for more operators due to the low penetration al land –line phones in the country , which is less than one phone per 100 people.

    The Interim Co-operation Framework (2004-2006)is an important joint initiative between the Inter-American Development Bank. IMF, European Commission and World bank to discuss new lending with the government and is dependent on adherence to fiscal and monetary targets and policy reforms. Focusing on realistically addressing the nation’s need now – and learning from mistakes of the past –Haiti is expected to become a focus for commercial activity, offering opening for joint ventures and partnerships for foreign investors.

 The number one priority is infrastructure improvements ,however especially road building projects.” There’s a lot of potential for partnerships because local companies haven’t the resources or expertise to build major highways.” Says Boulos. Only five per of the roads are in good conditions, while half the tertiary network have been taken off the road registry in response to their extreme deterioration. Other  major infrastructure undertakings, such as projects to build hospitals, health centers and schools are all dependent on outside investment.

So far, two privatization initiatives involving major foreign investment have been completed. In 1997 ,a Haitian-American consortium comprising the Haitian finance group, Unifinance ,and two US agribusinesses: Continental Grains and Seabord Corporation, took control of the state flour mill, while the country’s cement factory was sold off several years later. ”Both used to lose money under government control, but each is now working well and profits are rocketing,” says Boulos.

Boulos himself is an exemplar of how business should be conducted in Haiti. In the past ,he has been lauded for turning round an ailing supermarket chain called Delimart, as well as succeeding with investments in banking and automobile imports. ”I have shown that with the right attitude and astute management ,there are a lots of opportunities in Haiti, ”he says.

At Haiti’s Ministry for Trade, Industry and tourism ,minister Mrs. Danielle Saint-Lot expounds the advantages of the so-called Red Carpet project – an initiative funded through USAID which is designed to ease the path of investors by bringing together relevant players along the supply chain.”We are developing a center for normalization ,centralization and exportation .It will be a one-stop-shop facilitating trade from investor to market.” She says.

 While existing enterprises in Haiti required foreign investment Saint-Lot, a former head of the country ‘s Chamber of commerce ,says because the country is virgin in many commercial areas, there is scope for ventures to be privately opened from scratch. For example, as Haiti emerges from political isolation, she says ,the country will need more ports and airport.”We only have two international airport,one in port-au-Prince and the other at Cap-Haitian but a country of our size should have four or five”she says .

   Beside the country ‘s copper and bauxite deposits, the Haitian mining sector remains almost virgin ,and according to Dieuseul Anglade, director general at the office for Mines and Energy, the land is rich in a number of substances from gold and marble to calcium carbonate and coal.” There are many prospects to investigate and many possibilities for investment in this sector,” he says .

PRIVILEGED ACCESS

Minister Saint-Lot also champions the clothing and textile industries, which currently employ 25,000 local Haitians. Foreign investment in this area can bring improvement in a short period, she says .pointing to a time ,before the US embargo imposed during Aristide’s rule, when apparel and textile production created work for over 100,000 people.

    A fillip for the sector will come if the Haitian Economic Act is passed by US congress. The HERO Act, as it is Known, is designed to create employment in the Haitian textile industry by giving Haiti the opportunity to become a garment production center. Specifically, the Bill amends previous acts by granting duty-free status to Haitian apparel articles where the materials have come from countries with which the US has a free trade or regional agreement.

 If passed, the HERO Act will build on the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) a preferential system established by US in favour of Caribbean and Central American countries. It provides duty-free entry in to the US for approximately 3,500 products although currently textiles are excluded.

Investors weighing up the opportunities in Haiti, Saint-Lots says ,will be very happy to find out they too get privileged access to US markets .They will be further delighted to discover that more concessions are available when dealing with most Caribbean countries via Haiti’s membership of Caricom , a common market association which promotes free trade among its members.                                                                                      

VISIT HAITI

An improvement in international relations to boost for Haiti’s tourism industry. Up until the 1980s, the country was the darling oe the Southern Island, the pearl of the West Indies, welcoming tourists attracted by the destination’s exotic voodoo culture, exquisite French cuisine and warm climate.

 In recent years, vacationers, worried by the political unrest, have stayed away from its beaches however. A number of hotels, such as the Club Med resort near Saint Marc, have closed, while many that remain open are operating  at reduced-capacity. While to the east, neighbouring Dominican Republic has seen visitor numbers quadruple in the past twenty years, the Haitian tourist industry has witnessed a decline which  has also resulted in a reduction in the number of tourism-related jobs. The most up-to-date figures from the World Tourism Organization(WTO), a specialized agency of the UN,show142,000 tourists arrived in Haiti in 2001 compared with 150,000 in 1996. Receipts from tourism in 2003 totaled US$93 million compared to US$ 135 million five years ago.

  The majority of recent visitors to Haiti have been members of the international diplomatic and aid community, business travelers and Haitians living abroad .The only real form of tourism to survive are pleasure cruise liners that stop off at the northern city of Cap- Haitien to visit the nearby Citidelle ,a magnificent well-preserved fortress built atop a mountain by King Heri Christophe in the early 1800s.

Indeed, the latest projections from the world Travel and Tourism Councle, a research  body ,offer room for optimism. Although its analysis shows a decline of 4percent  in travel and tourism GDP for 2004 , it forecasts a year-on-year growth of 4.2 per cent over the next decade.

 As a first step on the road to recovery, Haiti should build on its reputation as a stop-over destination, says Saint-Lots ,and encourage Caribbean cruise ships to stop and drop anchor at more destinations in Haiti.The island of Tortuga,just off the northwest of the mainland, and the town of Jacmel in the south ,are under consideration.

“ An increasing number of visitors to the Caribbean want to say longer and visit at least two or three destinations.” She says.”We need to promote our unique history,our music and a culture that visitors won’t find anywhere else in the world.”

   Boulos is also hopeful of his country’s which boasts mile of golden beaches ,as a potential for development ,he says “ This would be a great spot to develop an all inclusive resort similar to those in the Dominican Republic.”

Alternative suggestions focus on eco and adventure tourism. In  spite of environmental degradation, Haiti still possesses a wealth of biodiversity .It is home to more than 6,000 species of plants(35 per cent of them endemic ) and 220 species of bird. On two of Haiti’s mountains ,some of the highest in the whole of the Caribbean, national parks have been establish to preserve pine forests. waterfalls and limeing, diving and horse-riding holidays.

There may be a long way to go ,but with international investments set to multiply, and the vacation set fated to come back, the good times may be about to return to Haiti.

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10-11-2007

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