21866: (Chamberlain) Canada lobbies for fast-tracked aid for Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     OTTAWA, May 13 (Reuters) - Haiti, the poorest country in the western
Hemisphere, should be given special, fast-tracked development aid by the
World Bank, Canada said on Thursday.
     "Canada is pushing at the World Bank to have Haiti designated as a
post-conflict country, because if Haiti gets that designation then that
will trigger at the World Bank a whole different approach," International
Development Minister Aileen Carroll told Reuters in an interview.
     Such a designation would make Haiti eligible for post-conflict
financing from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. These
are fast disbursing loans with conditions that are less rigid than for more
formal lending programs.
     "We have to push hard on that because I know that's a priority for
(Haitian Interim Prime Minister Gerard) Latortue," Carroll added.
     Latortue met with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan earlier this week
to press for economic aid, telling the UN chief that sending peacekeeping
troops was insufficient.
     Latortue, a former U.N. Development Fund worker who has blamed lack of
transparency for past misuse of aid, took office after weeks of fighting
ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
     Big donors were still drafting their needs assessment study for Haiti,
Carrolll said.
     "If we don't go in there in a co-ordinated and large-team response, we
are again going to be defeated by the situation down there," she said.