PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Former President Bill Clinton welcomed a trade mission in Haiti on Thursday, committing his and the Inter-American Development Bank staff to personally follow up with each investor interested in creating jobs but who may need help finalizing a real deal.

``This is really important. You came here to see what was going on and to see if this Haiti thing was real or just PR,'' Clinton said to some 600 business and civic leaders, including 200 foreign investors, at the Karibe Hotel in Petionville. ``This is real.''

Clinton told investors that the more specific they are about their problems or challenges the quicker he and his staff can help cut through government red tape, or finalize the deals.

The promise from Clinton came at the end of a lengthy speech in which he commended Haiti's Latin American neighbors for their interest in investing here, discussed the need for energy alternatives and thanked the Haitian government for helping its diaspora in the United States, Canada and France to improve the lives of the poor.

He also announced that some investors had already agreed to create jobs.

They include an Irish company that plans to open a call center in Port-au-Prince; Miami-based Royal Caribbean, which plans to train Haitians, and a $50 million industrial park to be partly funded by billionaire George Soros' Open Society Institute. The investment has the potential to create 25,000 new jobs in the garment industry.

``Your political risk in Haiti is lower than it has ever been in my lifetime,'' Clinton said.

Also on Thursday, Clinton and Haitian President Rene Preval signed an agreement to invite the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative to provide support to the government, to help expand access to HIV/AIDS care and treatment services and strengthen the systems required to deliver primary health care services.

On Friday, Clinton will visit Labadee and the San Souci ruins to plug Haiti's tourism potential.

``There is enormous potential here,'' he said. ``We want to work on that. We need infrastructure.''

He committed himself to doing more to show investors the opportunities in the country, saying ``we're working hard to identify the barriers to participation.''

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@