Global community pledges nearly 10 billion dollars for quake-hit Haiti

Automatic transcript

a wrong do with history according to you and sanctity general ban Ki noon the hazy international donor conference over Hong Kong shouldn't hurt to countries and institutions gathered in New York -- and in the aged over the next few years -- the biggest contributors the European Union and the United States -- one point seven billion euros from the EU over the next two years for food and to re build the Haitian government's born point one five billion from the US to strengthen agriculture energy insecurity -- US secretary of state is Hillary Clinton coalition that money was not the only faster in making the aid effort a success

it is important that aid has never saved a country -- our goal must be the empowerment and the Haitian people -- they're the ones who will carry on the work at re building Haiti -- long after our involvement has ended -- a sentiment shared by the Haitian presidents that room at the international face up by the international community of state as well -- day -- each instance played as good aid is not the same as development eight hundred has the way for development to take a would who do who

the EU warned against squandering the vital resources

what it would be the many these commitments the along there PH -- we think the in commitment to focus on three RT peace and everything -- yes group people results

a commission co chaired by President Preval and former US President Bill Clinton has been charged with ensuring that the aid is coordinated and well spent -- one approach is to increase the country's agricultural self sufficiency -- one eighty percent of the population works in agriculture -- the country remains highly dependent on food imports

UN member states and international organisations at a donors' conference on Wednesday pledged nearly 10 billion dollars over more than three years to rebuild Haiti. That includes 5.3 billion dollars for the 2010-2011 period.

By Lorna SHADDICK / Oliver FARRY (video)
News Wires (text)

By Philippe BOLOPION

AFP - The global community on Wednesday pledged nearly 10 billion dollars for Haiti over more than three years to put the quake-ravaged nation back on its feet.

As part of the 9.9-billion-dollar total, UN member states and international organizations participating in a donors' conference here pledged 5.3 billion dollars for the 2010-2011 period, far exceeding the 3.8 billion that was sought by conference organizers for that period.

That target was meant to fund a 4.0-billion-dollar action plan put forward by the Haitian government to fund reconstruction projects over the next two years in the poorest country in the Americas.

"The member states and international partners have pledged 5.3 billion dollars for the next two years and 9.9 billion dollars in total for the next three years and beyond," Ban told a press conference wrapping up the meeting.

"The US pledges 1.15 billion"

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday pledged 1.15 billion dollars for the reconstruction of quake-ravaged Haiti at the start of the donors conference in New York.

The World Bank, for its part, announced it would pledge 250 million dollars.

"Friends of Haiti have acted far beyond expectations."

The aim of the meeting was to help the battered Caribbean country "build back better" after the 7.0-magnitude quake on January 12 leveled parts of its capital Port-au-Prince, killing at least 220,000 people and leaving 1.3 million homeless.

Wednesday's biggest contributions came from the United States and the 27-member European Union.

Several dignitaries emphasized the need to follow through on the pledges, which Ban said "will be published and tracked by a Web-based system" established by the UN and Haiti.

"Reconstruction will be Haitian-led, inclusive, accountable, transparent, coordinated and results oriented," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the press conference. "Aid has never saved a country. Our goal must be the empowerment of the Haitian people."

The US chief diplomat, co-hosting the conference with Ban, offered 1.15 billion dollars, saying the funds would go toward supporting Haiti's plan "to strengthen agriculture, energy, health, and security and governance."

The EU meanwhile pledged an additional 1.6 billion dollars, with France offering to disburse 180 million euros (243 million dollars) in 2010-2011 for food and the restoration of government authority.

"This is only the beginning," Catherine Ashton said in comments addressed to Haitian President Rene Preval. "But I think everyone here is committed to supporting you to the end of the process."

Earlier she told the meeting that EU contribution was on top of 295 million euros already pledged, bringing total EU public and private contributions "close to three billion dollars."

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Some 138 countries, international bodies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, non-governmental organizations and Haitian expatriates took part in the one-day conference.

Officials have estimated Haiti needs 11.5 billion dollars in aid for reconstruction over the next 10 years.

The World Bank said it would provide 479 million dollars in aid through June 2011, of which 250 million was new funding.

Canada, a major provider of aid to Port-au-Prince, said it would also chip in with 400 million Canadian dollars (390 million US).

Brazil, the main contributor of troops to the UN stabilization mission in Haiti, pledged 172 million dollars, mainly for health projects, while Japan offered 30 million dollars in addition to 70 million already announced.

Stressing the need not to repeat past errors in helping impoverished Haiti, Clinton appealed to the world to "do things differently" this time.

"We cannot retreat to failed strategies," she added. "We need Haiti to succeed."

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Her husband, US special envoy to Haiti and former US president Bill Clinton meanwhile said that he and the Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive would lead an Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) tasked with overseeing the pledges.

The IHRC, which will have an 18-month mandate, is meant to give the Haitian government "influence over how and where aid is spent and will ensure that the reconstruction is well coordinated" and addresses the needs of all Haitians.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick suggested a division of labor among international agencies to avoid "tripping over one another."

He also called for another meeting in six months' time, coinciding with the annual General Assembly session in September to assess the progress.

UN Development Program administrator Helen Clark joined calls to put "the government and people of Haiti... in the driver's seat of the recovery" and stressed the need to involve civil society, the private sector and the Haitian diaspora.

And Bellerive outlined his four-billion-dollar, two-year recovery and development plan, with focus on rebuilding destroyed government institutions and infrastructure, some 1,300 schools and 50 hospitals and health centers.