Haiti President Sees Competition From Aid

Posted on Mar 8, 2010

U.S. Navy / LS1 Kelly Chastain

Survivors of Haiti’s devastating earthquake receive supplies including water and shelter.

Haiti’s President Rene Preval said Monday that continued shipments of food and water aid “will be in competition with the national Haitian production and Haitian commerce.” Instead, Preval said, donors should help rebuild and create employment in the impoverished country.

Reuters:

Donations of food and water have proved a lifeline for more than 1.2 million people displaced by the quake, but Preval told a news conference on Monday the aid could in the long term hurt the economy of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

“I will tell him (Obama) that this first phase of assistance is finished,” said Preval, standing in front of the ruined presidential palace in Port-au-Prince.

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