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Clinton vowed to “hector every last dime’’ out of donor nations. |
MIAMI - Former US president Bill Clinton said yesterday he would lead an international trade mission of private investors to Haiti in October to pursue energy and other development amid signs the nation is stabilizing.
Clinton burnished his credentials as an elder statesman last week when he visited North Korea to retrieve two American journalists and met with its leader Kim Jong-Il. He did not mention North Korea during yesterday’s speech to the Haitian Diaspora Unity Congress in Miami.
In his first major address to the Haitian Diaspora since becoming United Nations special envoy to Haiti, Clinton said stability had improved in the troubled Caribbean nation, providing new opportunity for foreign investment. “I think we are really on the verge of being able to make some significant changes,’’ Clinton said.
Clinton said his investor mission would focus on agriculture, construction, textiles, and energy, citing examples that ranged from increasing Haiti’s mango exports to developing affordable fuel.
Electric power is scarce in rural areas and the cutting of trees to make charcoal has led to deforestation in Haiti. As an example of projects rife for further investment, Clinton described a recycling program that turns paper and sawdust waste into cooking fuel that sells for one-fifth the cost of charcoal.
Clinton also promised to “hector every last dime’’ out of donor nations that had yet to deliver money they pledged for Haiti.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
