12034: Haiti's Parliament ratifies treaty to join Caribbean Community(AP) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

Haiti's Parliament ratifies treaty to join Caribbean Community

By MICHAEL NORTON
Associated Press
Posted May 14 2002, 10:36 AM EDT

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Haiti's Parliament has taken the final step to becoming a full member of the Caribbean Community, voting unanimously to ratify a treaty to join the regional organization, officials said Tuesday.

In a 68-0 vote with six abstentions, Parliament on Monday night ratified the treaty to make Haiti the 15th member of the Caribbean Community, also known as Caricom. There were 28 members absent from the joint session of the lower and upper houses.

``It's good news for Caricom, and I dare say good news for the people of Haiti,'' said visiting St. Lucia Foreign Minister Julian Hunte, who is chairman of the community's council on foreign and community relations.

Hunte and Organization of American States Assistant Secretary-General Luigi Einaudi are on a four-day visit to Haiti to monitor the initial work of a special OAS mission for strengthening democracy.

As soon as the Caribbean Community handles the paperwork, Haiti's membership will be complete, Hunte said.

By early July, when the Caribbean heads of state meet in Guyana, ``we might have President (Jean-Bertrand) there as a full member,'' he said.

The Caribbean Community accepted Haiti as a member in 1997. In July 2001, the regional organization opened an office in suburban Petionville to help Haiti through the final steps to integration.

With 8.2 million people, Haiti will more than double the population comprised by the Caribbean Community.

The new association could help pull Haiti from poverty, after more than 20 years of an economic slump. In 1995, the country's economic growth rate was 4.5 percent. Last year, it fell below zero.

``Now we are especially a consumer nation,'' Sen. Clones Lans said. ``But we will not stay that way forever. We have art and handicrafts to export, and our whole economy to develop.''

The country also has been paralyzed for two years by a political stalemate between the government and opposition parties, following 2000 elections that observers said were flawed.

International organizations and foreign countries have suspended millions of dollars in foreign aid until the two sides can agree on the specifics of holding new elections.

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