Haitian Prime Minister Visits Washington

VoA - Americas Wednesday 8th February, 2012

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday met with Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille, who is visiting Washington for talks on his country's post-earthquake reconstruction efforts.

The prime minister told journalists one purpose of the visit was to discuss progress his country has made since the deadly January 2010 quake and issues related to the slow pace of reconstruction.

The 7.0-magnitude temblor killed at least 200,000 people and left parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, in ruins. Officials in Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, say an estimated 550,000 people remain without homes, down from 1.5 million after the disaster occurred.

Earlier this week, Conille participated in what he called "constructive" talks with partners in the Caribbean nation's reconstruction: USAID, the Organization of American States, the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and International Monetary Fund.

In a related development, the World Bank's new vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean, Hasan Tuluy, is visiting Haiti this week on his first official visit to the region since assuming the post last month. Tuluy said in a recent statement that his trip reflects the priority the bank gives Haiti and that, in spite of many challenges, much has been achieved through joint efforts of Haitians and international partners.