HAITIAN PRESIDENT'S JUNE 29-30 VISIT TO FRANCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 004786 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/10/2016 TAGS: PREL FR HA SUBJECT: HAITIAN PRESIDENT'S JUNE 29-30 VISIT TO FRANCE Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Will Owen for reasons 1.4b/d ¶1. (C) Summary: Recently inaugurated Haitian President Rene Preval visited France June 29-30 and met with President Chirac, PM Villepin, and Defense Minister Alliot-Marie. According to an MFA contact, Preval underscored a consistent message in all his meetings: Haiti would focus on agriculture and tourism to spur economic growth, and looked to development assistance to improve the situation in a range of areas, including security and road infrastructure. The MFA contact said France was generally pleased with the visit, especially by the effort Preval made to bring with him from Haiti a delegation that included members of the opposition. After the meeting with Preval, Chirac declared that "France,s heart beats for Haiti," and that France was ready to assist Haiti during "this exceptional moment of hope for Haiti and the Haitian people." The visit focused almost exclusively on French and EU assistance to Haiti. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Poloffs met July 7 with Cecile Merle, the MFA,s desk officer for Haiti. Merle confirmed that Preval had met with President Chirac, PM Villepin, and Defense Minister Alliot-Marie, as well as President of the National Assembly Jean-Louis Debre, President of the International Organization of Francophone Countries Abdou Diouf, and UNESCO DG Matsuura. Preval,s meeting with Chirac, said Merle, focused on stabilizing Haiti,s volatile political and security environment. Citing the need for security, judicial, police, health, education, and infrastructure development, Preval seemed to prioritize all the aforementioned sectors, without clearly identifying which ones should take precedence, said Merle. Preval told Chirac that security reforms would be needed in order to hold upcoming local elections successfully. More generally, Preval insisted, security concerns affecting everyday life in the country had to be addressed in order to prompt lasting economic growth and social stability. Preval explained that any security reforms would have to occur in tandem with judicial and police reforms and would require much technical assistance from the international community. He praised MINUSTAH and thanked France for its contributions to it. ¶3. (C) In public and private statements, said Merle, Preval called for greater investment in the agricultural and tourism sectors in order to spur economic growth. The Haitian President also highlighted the need for economic reform but then pointed out that perhaps greater assistance rebuilding roads was needed first so that goods could be more efficiently transported to markets. Preval said the international development assistance community should focus on several priority areas. Merle commented that Haiti,s needs were so broad that it was difficult to organize a division of labor among the donors. Preval also underlined that Haiti needed transfer of know-how as much as it needed transfer of funds. ¶4. (C) Merle confirmed that Chirac had promised three million euros of immediate aid to Haiti, in addition to 32 million euros promised for the medium term through the ICF. (Note: French bilateral development assistance to Haiti is currently funneled through the Interim Cooperation Framework (ICF), which was established at a donors, conference in Washington in 2004 and developed at a similar conference in Cayenne in March 2005. France contributes 32 million euros to financing the ICF. France is also the leading contributor to the European Development Fund, providing 23.4 percent of the fund's 239 million euro budget. End Note). Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm STAPLETON