Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07PORTAUPRINCE1784
2007-11-08 18:46:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Port Au Prince
Cable title:  

CODEL BINGAMAN MEETING WITH PRESIDENT PREVAL

Tags:  PGOV PREL HA 
pdf how-to read a cable
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 001784 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CAR, DRL, S/CRS, INR/IAA
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
STATE PAS AID FOR LAC/CAR
TREASURY FOR MAUREEN WAFER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL HA
SUBJECT: CODEL BINGAMAN MEETING WITH PRESIDENT PREVAL

PORT AU PR 00001784 001.2 OF 002


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 001784

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CAR, DRL, S/CRS, INR/IAA
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
STATE PAS AID FOR LAC/CAR
TREASURY FOR MAUREEN WAFER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL HA
SUBJECT: CODEL BINGAMAN MEETING WITH PRESIDENT PREVAL

PORT AU PR 00001784 001.2 OF 002



1. (U) This message is sensitive but unclassified. Please
handle accordingly.

Summary
--------------


2. (SBU) Senators Bingaman, Harkin and Corker and several
staffers met with Haitian President Rene Preval October 26
and reviewed Haiti,s main development and assistance
priorities. The President highlighted Haiti,s priority
needs as security, anti-corruption, broader economic
development, education, and energy infrastructure. The
Senators placed special emphasis on Haiti,s need for more
teachers and offered ideas on how the U.S. could help. The
President,s economic advisor argued for a restructuring of
HOPE (Haitian Hemispheric Partnership Through Partnership
Encouragement) legislation to give Haiti more flexibility on
knitted fabrics. End summary.

Haiti,s Priorities
--------------


3. (SBU) The Ambassador accompanied the Senators. Also in
the meeting were staffers Chris Stone (Bingaman),Rosemary
Gutierrez (Harkin),Anne Oswalt (Corker),and Scott Miller
(Energy Committee),and PolCouns Bosshart (notetaker). Also
participating on the Haitian side were Prime Minister Jacques
Edouard Alexis and Presidential adviser Gabriel Verret.
Senator Bingaman stated that the U.S. was looking for ways to
assist in stabilizing Haiti, and asked the President which
areas he recommended. After highlighting the U.S. as the
largest donor country in Haiti, Preval pointed out that the
HOPE Act had created 3,000 jobs in Haiti, although it needed
some "adjustments." Preval then noted the primacy of
security for Haiti. The UN in Haiti has created conditions
of security and stability. Drug trafficking, however,
remained as a threat to that stability. This type of crime
thrived wherever there was a weak justice system, police, and
government. Haiti,s priority was therefore to strengthen
the police and justice system. Haiti,s second priority was
the prosecution of corruption and smuggling. Eliminating
bribes would level the playing field for investors and
increase government revenues from 7 percent to 15 percent of
GDP. With these programs in place, Haiti would aim to revive

the economy over the next three years. To help the economy,
Haiti would also have to make it easier to set up a business
by setting up a "one-stop shopping" approach.

Energy
--------------


4. (SBU) Senator Bingaman asked how the U.S. might help
address Haiti,s lack of a developed electrical energy system
as well as deforestation caused by peasants, clearing trees
to make charcoal. The President replied that the country had
to expand generation capacity. Currently, there was 200 MW
of electricity available for the capital Port-au-Prince in
the face of a 2,000 MW demand. The private sector hesitated
to invest in power generation because of the difficulty in
recovering costs (Note: payment discipline among Haiti,s
retail energy consumers is very lax. End note.) Haiti,s
national electricity company had a loss rate of 50 percent.
Most consumers were too poor to pay. Haiti had to reduce
losses as well as generation costs. Haiti was converting
fossil fuel generating plants to run on a heavy type of
diesel or fuel oil that could not be used in automobiles or
trucks and that therefore was not vulnerable to pilferage.
Another approach was to allow neighborhoods to manage their
electricity bill payments block by block.

Education
--------------


5. (SBU) Senator Harkin proposed that Haiti and the U.S.
embark on a unique bilateral program on education. The
senator suggested a numbers of areas of possible cooperation:
teacher training, education infrastructure, helping with
teachers, pay, curriculum building, and establishing school

PORT AU PR 00001784 002.2 OF 002


districts. The U.S. Department of Education might set up
something like an "Education Peace Corps" for work with
Haiti. The President agreed that there could be no
development without education. Education had been his sole
campaign promise. A firm U.S.-Haiti focus on education could
potentially solve the problem. Haiti had half a million
school-age children who were not in school. Putting them all
in school with one meal a day would drastically change the
situation. Senator Corker recalled his sojourn in Haiti 25
years ago during which he had helped build a school.


6. (SBU) Presidential adviser Gabriel Verret illustrated the
teacher shortage by pointing to the example of Kenya, which
had quickly expanded the number of children in school but
quickly bumped into a ceiling of teachers. Haiti had fewer
than 50,000 teachers and 500,000 school-age children not in
school. Haiti could not produce teachers fast enough.
Verret proposed tapping Haitian-Americans, who could be
induced to spend one-two years teaching in their country of
origin. A "Teach for Haiti" program might effectively
mobilize Haiti,s diaspora. Senator Bingaman proposed
establishing teacher training programs in Haiti with U.S.
help. Senator Harkin observed that all Haitian teachers
would not necessarily need college degrees to teach primary
school-aged children.

The Economy
--------------


7. (SBU) Senator Corker asked about the President,s overall
national priorities. Preval listed them as security,
fighting corruption, and then making registration of
businesses easier by introducing "one-stop shopping." Haiti
needed an investment protection law, more reliable
electricity, and smoother, cheaper port procedures. Haiti
currently had one of the most expensive ports in the region.
Preval expressed a concern that Haiti avoid the pattern now
observed in the Dominican Republic of a fast-growing economy
(8-10 percent) accompanied by growing poverty. Stability in
Haiti was also a function of the gap between rich and poor.
Presidential adviser Verret stated that Haiti needed a lot of
job creation in a hurry. The formal sector employed only
250,000 people out of 4 million working-age adults. Haiti
needed investment fast. The HOPE program had created
approximately 3,500 jobs in a few months, but left Haiti very
little flexibility on knitted fabrics, where it could
compete, but lots of room on woven fabrics, where Haiti was
not a player. Haiti was hoping for a "HOPE II" that would
address these shortcomings.


8. (U) Delegation has cleared this cable.
TIGHE