Saturday, as part of the visit of the President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in August, Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant, in the presence of Ministers Jude Alix Patrick Salomon (Economy), Carmel André Béliard (Agriculture), Pierre Josué Agénor Cadet (Education) and Josué Pierre-Louis, General Coordinator of the Office of Management and Human Resources (OMRH) met with Ms. Gina Montiel, Head of Department Central America, Mexico and Haiti of the IDB.

The meeting held at the official residence of the Prime Minister had as its objective the finalization of the envelopes to be allocated to the priority sectors of the Haitian government.

The Haitian government and the IDB are due to finalize a cooperation agreement of about $1 billion, covering the priority sectors of government, covering the period 2017-2020. The agreement will cover agriculture, transport infrastructure, drinking water and sanitation, education and State reform.

During the discussions, the Prime Minister expressed new needs concerning the construction of the Gonaïves-Anse-à-Foleur road, the creation of departmental equipment parks for the maintenance of infrastructure and the financing of SMEs. It was agreed that these new requirements would be discussed at a later date with the IDB.

This meeting was an opportunity for the IDB representative to announce technical and financial assistance for the implementation of a mother-infant program. The latter will strengthen the efforts already undertaken by the Government in this priority area.

HL/ S/ HaitiLibre