Organisation of American States (OAS) Assistant Secretary-General Albert Ramdin and President Bharrat Jagdeo discussed issues related to Caricom and the fallout from the first round of elections in Haiti at a meeting on Monday.
Before the meeting Ambassador Ramdin briefed Community Council of Caricom ministers on the situation in Haiti,a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release said.
The Ambassador told GINA that the report which the election verification experts undertook is still being discussed with the hope that a speedy solution will soon be found in order to pave the way for the second round of elections.
“This is very important because Haiti needs a politically stable environment, a constitutionally elected government and a legislative body which needs to be able to aid the process of social and economic reconstruction,” he said.
Haiti has not yet recovered from the recent cholera epidemic that stemmed from a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake that damaged most of its capital Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010. It is estimated that 1.7 million people are still living in temporary shelters. In the light of this, Ramdin said there is need to focus on the short-term needs of Haiti to bring an end to people suffering and he has appealed to Caricom to make these issues priority in the coming 12 months. “Before that we need a…politically stable environment and for that we need elections to be finalised,” he added. In a statement issued on Friday the member states of the Union of South American Nations called on the international community to heighten its collective efforts to ensure that aid pledged for the reconstruction effort is used for its intended purpose, which is to assist in the infrastructural and social rebuilding of Haiti for the benefit of its people.
Guyana made a concerted effort to support Haiti and established the Haiti Relief Fund spearheaded by a committee that included the parliamentary parties, representatives of religious and other faith-based organisations, and NGOs. The committee embarked on a series of activities such as the hosting of a telethon on NCN to provide a platform through which citizens can contribute to the national effort.
