The prime minister of Haiti has urged the international community to help her country rebuild its economy and get on a path toward sustainable growth and development.
Michele Pierre-Louis appealed for financial assistance Tuesday at an international donors' conference for Haiti in Washington. She is seeking support for a two-year economic recovery plan developed by her government.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged donors to support the plan. She said the United States will provide $287 million in non-emergency aid to Haiti this year, targeting its support toward four areas requested by the Haitian government - security, infrastructure, debt relief and agriculture.
Secretary Clinton, who is to visit Haiti this week, said the money will help the country create jobs, build roads, fight drug trafficking and overcome its debts and food shortages. She said it is the international community's task to "open the door of opportunity" for Haitians.
Making his own appeal, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the Haitian government's recovery plan is an opportunity to bring real promise and prosperity to Haiti. He said he believes the nation is poised to make more progress over the next two years than it has in the past two decades.
Secretary Clinton's husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, was also at the conference, which was sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank.
Mr. Ban and Mr. Clinton traveled to Haiti last month to refocus international attention on the country's problems.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and is still recovering from four storms last year that killed hundreds of people and caused about $1 billion in damage.
Secretary Clinton is scheduled to visit Haiti on Thursday.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
