Friday at the National Palace, President Michel Martelly, accompanied, among others, by the Ambassador of Haiti in Washington, Paul Altidor, met with a delegation of 3 representatives of the U.S. Congress (from South Florida) Mario Diaz Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Frederica Wilson and Tamara Philippeaux.

The visit of U.S. congressmen, comes after that of President Martelly in Washington, February 6 with his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, with whom he spoke on the development and strengthening of democracy in Haiti https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-10476-haiti-politic-president-martelly-received-by-us-president-barack-obama.html

On the agenda of this meeting was discussed the political dialogue, the electoral process, of support to the strengthening of the rule of law, of change of methods in development cooperation, the business environment and the fight against corruption.

"I am pleased to welcome you in Haiti, and take this opportunity to thank you for the attention you give him constantly in the Congress of the United States of America. You have arrived in a country that is certainly facing enormous difficulties, but the executive is bent on putting on rails the evelopment by creating a stable and supportive investment climate," said President Martelly.

Ros-Lehtinen said it was important to examine the progress of reconstruction efforts in the United States in Haiti and "urged for free, fair and transparent elections this year. "For its part, Diaz-Balart said he was anxious to meet representatives of the Haitian government and business leaders of the country to discuss ways to restore stability and create prosperity in Haiti and Frederica Wilson stressed the importance of transparency and accountability in the reconstruction efforts.

The Head of the State promised to make every effort to facilitate the organization of the forthcoming elections. To this end, he intends to continue the dialogue to build trust likely to reassure politicians.

Thereafter, the three members of Congress, along with the U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, Pamela White, had briefly met with the Presidents of the two chambers in the presence of several MPs and senators. The organization of the next elections, relations between the executive and the legislature were the main items on the agenda.

HL/ HaitiLibre