28206: (news) Chamberlain: New Haiti leader seeks boost in $1 bln aid plan (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Gilbert Le Gras

     NEW YORK, March 30 (Reuters) - Haitian President-elect Rene Preval
will host a meeting of 26 foreign aid bodies this summer to extend a $1
billion aid program and seek new funds to help his country, the most
impoverished in the Americas, sources familiar with the talks said on
Thursday.
     The sources spoke after Preval's whirlwind U.S. tour this week of
donors, which kicked off Monday with an appeal to governments at the United
Nations to step up development aid to his impoverished Caribbean nation or
put democracy at risk.
     Preval, elected in February and due to take office next month, seeks
to press for additional funds to meet goals ranging from primary education
for all students, restoring electricity services and expanding health care.
     The sources said the meeting of the aid umbrella group for Haiti --
known as the International Cooperation Framework -- is scheduled for early
this summer in Port-au-Prince.
     So far the ICF aid program has paid out  more than $700 million of the
$1.08 billion pledged in July 2004.
     The sources spoke to Reuters Thursday after Preval, a one-time ally of
ousted former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, met this week in
Washington with President George W. Bush and top officials at the
International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank
and the Organization of American States.
     These international bodies, as well as foreign governments including
major donors like the United States, Canada and France, are coordinating
their assistance through the ICF aid program, drafted two years ago to
address Haiti's many needs.
     The World Bank estimates annual per capita income in Haiti around $390
while the United Nations puts an average Haitian's life expectancy in the
early 50s.
     The International Monetary Fund said this week that it could begin the
process of approving low-interest loans to Haiti, if the  country meets the
terms of global debt relief program for the world's poorest countries.
     Other items on multilateral lenders' agenda before the donors'
conference in Haiti include territorial and transportation development,
electrification, and technical assistance.
     The new aid conference set for mid-year should also discuss extending
the ICF program through to December 2007 from its original expiration date
in September, the sources said.
     The ICF has involved more than 200 national and international experts
from 26 bilateral and multilateral donors.