(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Haitian Government has identified the town of Léogane and its environs as the preferred location for the health intervention of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

This was the information relayed by Haitian government officials following the CARICOM Mission to Haiti on Saturday 6 February. The Mission was led by the Chairman of CARICOM, Honourable Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica, and included CARICOM Secretary-General, His Excellency Edwin Carrington; CARICOM Special Representative to Haiti, Most Honourable Percival Patterson; CARICOM Assistant Secretary-General, Foreign and Community Relations, Ambassador Colin Granderson; the Executive Director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), Mr Jeremy Collymore; and the Acting Director of the CARICOM Representative Office in Haiti, Mr. Frantz Joseph. The team met with the President of Haiti, His Excellency René Préval and members of his cabinet including the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance and Health as well as the Prime Minister.

CARICOM Heads of Government had identified Health as the primary, but not exclusive, focus of the Community’s intervention in the aftermath of the January 12 earthquake which devastated Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas resulting in tremendous loss of life, destruction of property and damage to infrastructure.

As Haiti gradually moves away from the immediate emergency phase to recovery and reconstruction, the CARICOM team told the Haitian officials that the emergence of Haiti as a model state and as a symbol of what could be done through collaboration, is at the heart of the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) vision for Haiti’s recovery and reconstruction. President Préval told the team there was a need to ensure better coordination during the recovery and reconstruction phase and that this was also an area where CARICOM could help.

The delegation offered the view that CARICOM could continue to effectively support Haiti’s recovery and reconstruction by also assisting in the strengthening of the country’s depleted institutional capacity. The Haitian government has identified this area as one critical to its recovery and sees the mobilization of the Diaspora and the provision of technical support by CARCIOM as addressing the deficiency. In the process, the collaboration among Focal Points of the Sectoral Working Groups established by Haiti and the CARICOM Secretariat’s Haiti Support Unit, which was established following a mandate from the Bureau of the Conference of Heads of Government, was also seen as essential. The meeting also identified a liaison role for the CARICOM Representative Office in Haiti, which was originally established with the help of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to assist in preparing Haiti for participation in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.

During a visit to camp “Good Neighbour” which houses the Jamaica-led CARICOM contingent in Haiti and which includes personnel from 12 CARICOM Member States, Prime Minister Skerrit lauded Jamaica as “exceptional Ambassadors for CARICOM” for spearheading the Community’s initial response to the disaster in Haiti. Jamaica is the sub-regional focal point with responsibility for the northern geographic zone of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), which includes Haiti among its five countries.

The CARICOM Chairman noted that he was “touched” by the work done by Jamaica in “difficult circumstances.” Similar sentiments were echoed by the CARICOM Secretary-General, who noted that the Community was “proud of Jamaica’s response on behalf of CARICOM.” The Most Honourable P.J.Patterson also noted that he was “proud of the absolutely splendid performance” by Jamaica, adding that the medical, military and other personnel “responded quickly and efficiently”.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org