A stable and prosperous Haiti will strength CARICOM

Charles Savarin, Minister for Foreign Affair, Trade and Labour said earlier today that “a stable and prosperous Haiti will significantly strengthen CARICOM and contribute meaningfully to the process of deepened regional integration and the attendant march towards the Caribbean Single Market and Economy.” Mr. Savarain made the statement yesterday while addressing the general debate of the sixty-second session of the General Assembly, at the UN Headquarters in New York.

While informing the General Assembly that the region welcomed the continuing engagement of the United Nations and the Organisations of American States in Haiti, Mr. Savarin urged the UN to make the commitment to go beyond the current engagement in Haiti through MINUSTAH , to a longer-term engagement that will bring sustainable economic stability and development to Haiti.

“We appreciate the important role of Brazil and the other member states, which are participating in MINUSTAH, but we must be careful not to see these interventions as the emergency response of an international fire brigade quickly extinguishing political conflagrations and only remaining long enough to dampen the embers of renewed conflict,” the Foreign Affairs Minister said.

The minister told the meetings that “Haiti’s problems stem from underdevelopment and extensive periods of dictatorship” and consequently any longterm solutions for impoverished Caribbean nation lie “in democracy and development.”

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