On 23 and 24 October, Stefano Manservisi, Director General for Development of the European Union led a high level mission to Haiti to see the extent of damage and loss suffered by the population following the passage of Hurricane Matthew; Mission to which participated among others : Jolita Butkeviciene, Director for the Americas and the Caribbean to the Directorate for the development of the EU and Cees Wittebrood, Head of Unit Asia, Latin America, Caribbean and Pacific to the department of humanitarian aid and civil protection of the European Union (ECHO).

At a special session, Manservisi accompanied by members of the European delegation, met on Monday, Prime Minister, Enex Jean-Charles, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Yves Romain Bastien, the Minister of Public Works, Jacques Evelt Eveillard and the National Authorising Officer of the European Development Fund, Charles Jean-Jacques.

There was discussion about the prospects of the cooperation Haiti-European Union in light of the new situation and new actions that the European Union will implement with Haiti to help the country overcome this ordeal.

Following this session, Manservisi declared "The EU responded immediately after the passage of Hurricane Matthew by mobilizing its humanitarian aid and civil protection mechanism. Besides this emergency assistance that will continue in the coming days, the European Union responds to the consequences of this disaster by providing short, medium and long term responses proportionate to the scale of need [...] to this effect, a new envelope of at least €20 million, will be deployed immediately.

This assistance will be dedicated firstly to the reconstruction of essential public infrastructure such as schools, roads or bridges. On the other hand, it will serve to restore agricultural and horticultural crops by allowing especially farmers to quickly restore their production facilities with seeds, tools and livestock for example."

Furthermore, the European Union and the Haitian government discussed the possibility of extending the budgetary support program for the consolidation of the State which just ended to continue with a new program supporting the very important State reforms that are underway in the field of public administration, public finance and education.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19042-haiti-news-zapping-politics.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18896-haiti-humanitarian-france-responds-to-the-call-for-help-of-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18876-haiti-humanitarian-the-european-union-intensifies-its-support.html

HL/ HaitiLibre