(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The World Bank has indicated its support for a special multi-donor fund for the reconstruction of CARICOM Member State, Haiti.

The fund will ensure that all donors’ resources are pooled. Such an approach would help to streamline the assistance to Haiti.

Mr. Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank, speaking at a press conference after meeting with CARICOM Heads of Government in Dominica at the 21st Intersessional Meeting of the group, said the financial institution was considering how it could support CARICOM’s role in providing assistance to Haiti. He noted that among the ideas which had come out of Thursday morning’s discussions with CARICOM Heads of Government was one related to construction given Haiti’s concerns about shelter.

Haiti was hit by a catastrophic earthquake on 12 January that devastated the capital, Port-au-Prince, leaving more than 200 000 dead and more than a million homeless.

Prior to meeting Thursday morning with Mr. Zoellick, Heads of Government of CARICOM had said they were interested in a development fund for Haiti that would ensure there was better and more efficient access to the funds. Heads of Government also wanted ensure that the government and people of Haiti remained at the helm of the country’s reconstruction process.

Mr. Zoellick told a press conference Thursday afternoon that he had discussions with His Excellency Rene Preval, President of Haiti on Tuesday on how the World Bank Group could best support that country in the immediate future. Mr. Zoellick said the World Bank had provided an additional $100M in grants in response to the earthquake, while its private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) had also made an additional $35M investment to help boost jobs. He added that the World Bank also joined other donors in 2009 granting Haiti $1.2B in debt relief through the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org