Presidential

President Martelly Urges Caribbean Community to Meet the Needs of Haiti

GROS ISLET, Saint Lucia (defend.ht/P) - President Michel Martelly urged that the Caricom benefits meet the real needs of the Haitian people. In one example he stressed that French should be accepted as an official language of the organization, in addition to English. Martelly also advocated for the integration of Haitian administrators into the Caricom leadership.

Thursday, July 5, 2012: The President of the Republic, His Excellency Mr. Michel Joseph Martelly, participated in the late afternoon of July 4, 2012, in plenary discussions of country leaders at the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Caribbean, which runs until July 6 in St. Lucia.

The discussions held at Sandals Grande St. Lucian Spa and Resort, in Gros Islet (Saint Lucia), cover, inter alia, on the future of countries in the region, including foreign policy coordination in the Caribbean Community the ongoing reform of the Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat, development in Haiti and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

The Head of State of Haiti, His Excellency Mr. Joseph Michel Martelly, said this summit is to introduce the new climate of political stability prevailing in Haiti, which puts the country in a better position to deal on equal terms with its partners, to take and implement international and regional commitments, especially commitments with all CARICOM.

Haiti must ensure its impregnation of the mission and objectives of the Community, transmit the new government to strengthen state institutions, to establish a rule of law, to ensure the economic recovery and pave the way for sustainable development of the country.

Haiti's participation in the Summit of CARICOM aims to define the Government's commitment in the implementation of national policy that can ensure the full integration of the countries in this community, to exercise all its rights and obligations and especially to ensure its presence in all organs.

Moreover, the Haitian Head of State reaffirms, as he had launched at the recent Summit of CARICOM, the hope of Haiti that French be accepted as an official language and/or work of the congregation, along with the English.

Indeed, CARICOM is the only integration scheme in the world where English is the only official language. Now, more than 55% of CARICOM countries are French or Creole, and Haitians, alone represent over 50% of the demographic weight of CARICOM. The impact of language is important in the conduct of negotiations, both in the integration process. Thus, Haiti requires that this be brought to the agenda of the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Group on Revision of the Treaty.

The President of the Republic of Haiti calls for the integration of middle managers within the Haitian CARICOM Secretariat. Actually, only one Member State occupies more than three quarters of the total number of employees in Georgetown, which goes against the principle established in Article 23.2 of the Revised Treaty requiring the staffing of the Secretariat to make in compliance with the standards established on a basis that respects the equitable geographical distribution.

The Head of State of Haiti, His Excellency Mr. Joseph Michel Martelly, continues to favor the policy of integration of countries in the region and strengthening external relations, but requires that the benefits are palpable to Haiti and meet the real needs of the Haitian people.

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