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CEFOTAJ
Centre De Formation Technique Pour
L'Avancement Des Jeunes Du Sud'Est Inc.

U.S. and Haiti Relationship

Long-term relationships between the U.S. and Haiti have been developed. First of all, the country has a very good geographical location. Port-au-Prince is less than 2 hours by air from Miami (approximately 600 miles southeast of the coast of Florida). Moreover, there are flights to New York and Fort Lauderdale. Secondly, English is well known in the country. Majority of the Haitian businesspersons speak English and it is possible to pay for the products in US dollars. Currently, there are some U.S. companies, including commercial banks, telecommunications, airlines, oil and agribusiness companies, and U.S.-owned assembly plants are present in Haiti (US Department of State, 2010; CIA, 2010).

The economic situation was largely dependent on the U.S. and entire world’s financial aid. For example, the U.S. contributed more than $850 million of financial aid from 1995 to 2003 to improve governance, security, the rule of law, economic recovery and critical human needs. From 2004 to 2008, the U.S. provided $600 million of financial aid. Moreover, The World Economic Forum ranked Haiti last in its 2003 Global Competitiveness Report (Global Security, n.d.; CFI, 2010). That is why World Bank Donors (U.S., Canada, EU, France, Sweden, Spain, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Greece, Norway, Mexico, and Ireland) provided $1.085 billion from 2004 through 2006 to address humanitarian needs (U.S. Department of State, 2008).

Haiti before the Earthquake in 2010

Haiti had been the least-developed country in the Western Hemisphere since the 1980s. The economic stagnation of the country was a result of inadequate economic policies, political instability, shortage of arable land, environmental deterioration, lack of investment in human resources, migration of majority of skilled citizens, weak national savings rata, lack of functioning judicial system, corruption, reliance on traditional technologies instead of applying the new ones, drug trafficking, etc. (U.S. Department of State, 2008). A variety of the sources (U.S. Department of State, 2000; PRS Group, 2002; World Bank, 2004; Icon Group, 2007; Infomat, 2008; CFI, 2010) identified that Haiti had low trade with the foreign countries between 1990 and 2004 due to the political instability. Therefore, there were a limited number of foreign investors in Haiti. Later on, the political situation stabilized.

Generally, Haiti had a positive attitude towards foreign investors. There were no economic or industrial strategies with discriminatory effect, e.g. nationality. The Haitian banking system is open to the entry and operation of foreign banks. At present, there are two foreign banks operating in Haiti: Citibank and Scotia bank (PRS Group, 2002; Investment Overview, 2007).

The Government of Haiti has made several commitments to the world trade organization in the financial services sector as follows:
• Allow foreign participation in deposit taking, lending, guarantees and commitments; in financial leasing; in underwriting services, including participation in the issuance and placement of securities; and in advising and auxiliary services for each of the above-mentioned services.

PO Box 666 Brentwood, NY 11717 Phone (631) 273-4100 Fax (631) 273-4111 yair@cefotaj.org www.cefotaj.org

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