Thursday, to the food warehouse of Lafiteau, Ambassador of Japan, Yoshiaki Hatta, proceeded to the delivery of a donation of 8,509 metric tons of rice granted by his Government of Haiti. This is Patrick Norame, the Director General of Office of Monetization of Development Aid Programs (BMPAD) who assured the official reception on behalf of the Government of Haiti.

This donation comes within the framework of the cooperation agreement signed January 20, 2016 between the two countries. It aims to stabilize rice supply, strengthen the food safety system and enable the implementation and execution of socio-economic projects from the funds generated by the sale of this rice. These 8,500 tons of rice (from the US) worth 490 million yen (± 4 million US dollars) should be placed on the Haitian market in the next two weeks.

Patrick Norame explained that "The BMPAD, is responsible for monetizing these products in order to offer an alternative to the most vulnerable populations and to fund certain development projects," by reselling it to reference price, under the provisions of the Price Stabilisation Committee on the local market.

Moreover, the DG of BMPAD insisted that this rice did not come to compete with domestic production, saying "on the contrary, this rice comes help reduce the country's deficit in terms of production."

In his speech, Ambassador Yoshiaki Hatta recalled that this cooperation between the two countries existed for over 10 years and declared "This donation demonstrates the commitment of Japan to support Haiti in terms of food [...] It is up now to the Haitian government to establish a fund from the sale of the rice, allowing it to achieve socio-economic projects for the benefit of the Haitian people."

S/ iciHaiti