Keep the food and bring other aid, says Haiti President

Préval will make his concerns known when he meets with US President Barack Obama at the White House today.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, March 10, 2010 – Haiti’s President René Préval doesn’t want any more food aid from outside for the 1.2 million displaced residents of the earthquake-ravaged country.

He’s worried that if food continues to come from abroad, it will create competition with national production and Haitian commerce and hurt the country in the long-run.

Préval will make his concerns known when he meets with US President Barack Obama at the White House today.

"I will tell him that this first phase of assistance is finished," he said, stressing that the priority now should be on creating jobs for people, preparing for the upcoming hurricane season which begins in June and reopening schools.

"I will also tell him that our vision is to rebuild Haiti and if we don't take advantage of this historic event to reinvent Haiti, to reinvent Port-au-Prince, we will be making a mistake of historical proportions," Préval added.

The Haitian president arrived in the US on Monday.

Ahead of today’s discussions with Obama, he met with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton who said yesterday that her country will assist earthquake-ravaged Haiti in holding legislative elections.

The vote had been set for February, but was put off after the 7.0-magnitude quake struck on January 12th. Presidential elections are due in December.

Préval has insisted that political stability is fundamental for Haiti’s development and Clinton agreed.

"I assured President Préval that the United States would work with the international community to hold elections as soon as appropriate," she said at a press conference.

Préval’s US trip, the first since the earthquake, comes weeks before a major donor conference on Haiti, on March 31st at the United Nations.

The goal of that meeting is to mobilise international support for Haiti’s development needs to begin to lay the foundation for the Caribbean country’s long-term recovery.