7-7-2004
Haiti likely needs $1 billion to rebuild
AP

WASHINGTON - (AP) -- More than $1 billion will probably be needed to rebuild Haiti, the Americas' poorest country, after its recent political upheaval, a senior Treasury Department official said Wednesday.

John Taylor, the department's undersecretary for international affairs, offered the estimate as he prepared to visit Port-au-Prince today and meet with government representatives to discuss their efforts to establish economic stability in Haiti.

Taylor said a donors conference for Haiti reconstruction will be held in Washington on July 20 at the World Bank, which is currently working on a needs assessment for the country. The money, he said, is needed to build roads and schools, improve electric power, and for other issues.

In another development, defense ministers from Brazil, Chile and Uruguay arrived in Haiti for a two-day visit of U.N. troops patrolling the broken nation four months after former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled the country amid a three-week rebellion.

A U.N. peacekeeping mission led by Brazilian troops took over patrols in late June.

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