Cecília Jorge
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - Haiti is in need of a new form of international cooperation, with a focus on combatting poverty and strengthening the capacity of the State to provide services to the population. This strategy was defended today (23) by the Brazilian minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, at the opening of the High Level International Meeting on Haiti, which is going on in Brasília.

According to Amorim, who reiterated what the president of Haiti, René Préval, has already said, the presence of the United Nations peace mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) remains necessary, even after the presidential elections.

"But president Préval also made it clear that the terms of the MINUSTAH mandate should be reformulated in light of the new situation. In the president's words, steam shovels and ciment mixers should replace combat vehicles," the chanceller noted.

According to the minister, the international financial community must continue to allocate resources to Haiti and adapt the bureaucratic requirements involved in the process of disbursing the funds to the reality of the country. "In the past, certain bureaucratic requirements, valid, perhaps, by themselves, have often eliminated the chances of a real cooperation," Amorim recalled.

The purpose of the meeting, which is being attended by representatives of 16 countries and 11 international organizations, is to evaluate the results of international cooperation in Haiti during the past two years and define directions to be followed on the basis of the priorities set by the new Haitian government. The meeting will also serve as a preparation for the Conference of Donors scheduled for July in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital.

Translation: David Silberstein