International donors met today to pledge some $4 billion to Haiti, launching a worldwide effort to rebuild the country after January's shattering earthquake.
"What we envision today is wholesale national renewal," United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said, opening a one-day conference of some 120 countries, international organisations and aid agencies.
Mr Ban called for quick donations in response to a UN request for $1.4 billion in immediate humanitarian assistance for Haiti, which even before the January 12th earthquake was the poorest country in the western hemisphere.
So far, the request has only been half funded, fueling fears that the rainy season will compound the disaster for some 1.2 million Haitians left homeless by the disaster.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, co-host of today's meeting, said the United States would pledge $1.15 billion for long-term recovery, which she said must be planned and executed by Haiti's government.
"We also have to pledge our best efforts to do better ourselves, to offer our support in a smarter way, a more effective way that produces real results for the people of Haiti," Ms Clinton said.
Ms Clinton was joined on the dais by her husband, former US president Bill Clinton, the UN special envoy for Haiti who will coordinate relief efforts for the country.
The UN meeting seeks to raise funds for a Haitian government recovery plan that includes decentralising the economy to create jobs and wealth outside Port-au-Prince, the capital of some 4 million people.
Haitian prime minister Jean-Max Bellerive said his government, which saw all but one of its ministries destroyed, had a vision for Haiti's future but needed help.
"The resources must be available. That's why we ask in our plan for budgetary support of $350 million for the next six months so we can face up to our responsibilities," he said.
Aid agencies say the task is huge. Haiti, already the poorest country in the western hemisphere, suffered as many as 300,000 people killed in the magnitude 7.0 earthquake, which crippled the government and caused damage estimated at between $8 and $14 billion.
In the crowded, squalid quake survivors' camps of Port-au-Prince, thousands clamored today for basic necessities. Overnight rains have soaked fragile shelters and turned dusty alleyways to mud.
"We need water, food, toilets, healthcare, light and tents -- shelter," said Silverin Nono, elected leader of a camp that has mushroomed into being on a barren, refuse-strewn hillside called Bas-Canaan north of the city.
Mr Ban said the new Haitian Recovery Commission would aim to channel $3.9 billion into programmes in the next 18 months, launching a broader project to improve basic health, sanitation, education and housing services.
The World Bank group, which will manage reconstruction funds, said it would make $79 million available through June 2011, including the total cancellation of Haiti's remaining World Bank debt.
World Bank president Robert Zoellick said it was crucial that donors coordinate efforts to avoid producing "islands of development in a sea of deprivation."
The European Union and a coalition of U.S.-based humanitarian groups have indicated they would pledge more than $2.7 billion, while governments around the world also started announcing pledges.
"We want to work with the government of Haiti. This is their plan; they have to own it, we have to help," said Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief.
International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that if the world community fulfills its pledges, Haiti's economy could grow at an average 8 per cent in coming years -- almost 50 per cent faster than under previous IMF forecasts.
"That's possible, but condition one is to have the Haitian authorities really in the driver's seat," he told reporters.
Reuters