I would like to join his Excellency the Prime Minister in thanking the numerous country representatives as well as all the major financial and development partners who spoke today and who pledged towards Haiti’s reconstruction and recovery plan.
These contributions, large and small, demonstrate that the international community is committed to a new approach to working with the Government and the people of this country.
The UN remains fully engaged in helping Haiti through this difficult period, working productively and in partnership with the Government, but crucially with the Government in the lead at all times, and the impact of these funds in the lives of people.
The United Nations is committed to supporting the Government’s response, whether in a post-disaster earthquake context or more broadly in its development plans and commitment to reach the SDG targets.
This Government-led international event is a good example of the strong leadership played by the Government. Today it has presented its five-year reconstruction and recovery plan for the Southern Peninsula, known as the PRIPS.
This is the action plan to carry out the reconstruction and recovery goals as identified in the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment or PDNA.
The PDNA was another Government-led initiative which was completed within just six weeks of the earthquake, and we all consider this a remarkable achievement.
Today, the Government also presented the Multi-Partner Trust-Fund, which the United Nations was asked to help develop. This fund will ensure that donors' funds are disbursed in a responsible, effective and considered manner, to bring the maximum possible transparency and impact in the lives of Haitians.
There are many challenges ahead, not least building greater resilience to natural disasters by embracing improved disaster risk reduction measures and adapting better to climate change; these issues are intrinsically linked to long-term political will, and a development vision, good governance that have rarely been prioritized in the past in Haiti.
As we look towards the longer-term future of a more prosperous, peaceful and stable Haiti as envisioned in the Government’s plans that we have heard about in detail today, I would like to underline that the humanitarian situation is still very troubling in many parts of the country.
There are significant unmet needs, with an estimated 4.9 million people still needing humanitarian assistance in 2022.
Today, we saw Haiti put a plan forward for an inclusive reconstruction of the tragedy that happened in the Southern Peninsula.
Today we saw the international community respond to a nationally-led plan. And tomorrow we will see the beginning of that work to try to reconstruct and bring back the peace and security to lives in the Southern Peninsula.