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At international conference, U.S. pledges $1.15B aid for Haiti

31 March 2010 17:07 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The U.S. government pledged $1.15 billion Wednesday at an international conference on rebuilding earthquake-shattered Haiti, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warning that "what happens there has repercussions far beyond its borders", APA reports quoting â€œThe Washington Postâ€ newspaper.
The American government and United Nations are co-sponsoring the conference, which aims to drum up nearly $4 billion to rebuild the impoverished country over the next 18 months.
The conference seemed likely to meet that goal, with the European Union announcing a $1.6 billion commitment and Brazil pledging $172 million.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the goal was not just to rebuild Haiti but to transform its history of deep poverty and dysfunction.
"What we envision today is a wholesale national renewal, a sweeping exercise in nation-building on a scale and scope not seen in generations," he told the conference.
Clinton warned that failing to support Haiti could lead to more migration, political instability, drug-trafficking and the spread of drug-resistant diseases beyond its borders.
She spoke from a podium sitting next to the U.N. secretary general, Haitian President RenÃ© PrÃ©val and her husband, Bill Clinton. The Haitian government has asked the former U.S. president to co-chair an interim commission that will oversee the spending of international reconstruction aid.
Haiti needs $11.5 billion to rebuild over the next decade, according to an assessment drawn up by its government and foreign technical experts. Donors from about 120 countries were attending the pledging conference.