The First Deputy Prime Minister of the Spanish government, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, will attend, on behalf of Spain and the European Union (EU), the international conference to lay the foundations for the reconstruction of Haiti which takes place in Montreal (Canada) on Monday.
The First Deputy Prime Minister of the Spanish government, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, will attend, on behalf of Spain and the European Union (EU), the international conference to lay the foundations for the reconstruction of Haiti which takes place in Montreal (Canada) on Monday.
The 27 Member States have already approved 430 million euros of aid for humanitarian supplies and medium-term reconstruction.
Fernández de la Vega visited Haiti on 17 January to personally see the damage caused by the earthquake and assess the extent of the aid needed. The following day she was in the Dominican Republic where she took part in the preparatory meeting for the Montreal forum.
The Montreal meeting will focus on coordinating the influx of humanitarian aid being sent to Haiti to answer the most pressing needs of the hundreds of thousands of victims, and also prepare a summit meeting to discuss the reconstruction of the Caribbean country.
The Prime Minister of Haiti, Jean-Max Bellerive, the heads of foreign affairs of the USA (Hillary Clinton), Brazil (Celso Amorim), France (Bernard Kouchner) and the Dominican Republic (Carlos Morales Troncoso) are expected to attend the meeting, together with the Minister of Economy of the Dominican Republic, Temístocles Montás.
Also present will be representatives from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, The Caribbean Development Bank, CARICOM, the Inter-American Development Bank, the IMF, la OAS, the World Bank , the UNO and various non-governmental organisations.
In addition to aid, the Montreal conference will also discuss the issue of a possible exodus of refugees and immigrants to surrounding countries, above all the Dominican Republic .
In the Foreign Affairs Council of the EU, which is also set to take place on Monday in Brussels, Spain will propose that existing applications to adopt Haitian children be speeded up and that international measures should be sought to provide care and protection for unaccompanied minors or orphans.
De la Vega stressed that “Our commitment to Haiti is clear and steadfast. We fully intend, together will the international community, to stand by the Haitians in the reconstruction of their country”.