Wednesday, July 11, the President Martelly and his Ecuadorian counterpart, Rafael Correa Delgado, signed at the Presidential Palace Ecuadorian, two bilateral agreements on Haiti's reconstruction and the technical cooperation with Ecuador.

The first agreement, valued at approximately $15 million, is intended to support the reconstruction of Haiti, including through programs of realization of construction of roads, dikes, canals repair, processing waste, modular housing construction, rehabilitation of school infrastructure... This agreement also covers the training of technicians in the Artibonite Department, under the responsibility of the contingent of military engineers of the Ecuadorian Army. This will help strengthen the area economy, whose the great strength lies in its agriculture.

The second agreement concerns the scientific cooperation in the fields of agriculture and security. Ecuador indicated that its resources and structures are weak to able to provide technical assistance to Haiti at the level of strengthening of the national police, it agreed, on the organization of several meetings with Haiti in order to receive support in this regard, within UNASUR. The Basic Agreement includes the development of technical cooperation programs and will include activities, among others, of transformation of state structures and of institutional strengthening, of social protection, assistance to adults and assistance to persons with disabilities.

The two Heads of State have first discussed in closed session, then agreed, at the workshops held in the day, on a series of actions that will address issues related to the international agenda and to the mutual support proposed by each of the two nations, including tourism development in Haiti.

The Head of State of Haiti, took the opportunity to ask the President Correa, to help the Haitian government to promote private investment Ecuadorian in Haiti. The President of Ecuador has, for his part, reiterated its commitment to assist Haiti to consolidate its ambitions of econstruction and sustainable development.

The day was marked by the visit to the specialized hospital of the Mission Eugenio Espejo, (as part of a memorandum of agreement with Ecuador for assistance to persons with disabilities). The President Martelly, accompanied by Gérald Oriol Jr., Secretary of State for Disabled Persons, met with Dr. Alex Camacho, Assistant Secretary of State for Disabled Persons, around possibilities for joint action.

Indeed, the Administration Martelly-Lamothe, demonstrating its political will of social inclusion, with an emphasis on vulnerable groups which includes the persons with special needs, worked to explore, within the framework of this partnership, several avenues of cooperation :

• Technical and financial support to the achievement of a specific census on the disabled population of Haiti and the training of statisticians; of a prevalence survey on disability ; of a system of prevention of disability from birth ; of a pilot project on specialized transit ;

• Support for the establishment in Haiti of a geospatial system, similar to that of the mission solidarity Manuela Espejo ;

• Strengthening of capacities of existing prosthetics workshops in the capital and the creation of additional workshops in other cities. This support to the strengthening can be manifested by the continuous training of technicians;

• Technical contribution to the establishment of a mentoring program of families with one or more members in situation of handicap very cumbersome, requiring support ;

• Technical support for the conception and creation of a research institute and of promotion of sign language ;

• Training of technicians in support of people with disabilities in situations of natural hazards and major events.

The President Michel Joseph Martelly believes that it should no longer be room for instability in Haiti, that the time has come to embark on the path of sustainable development and solidarity cooperation, technical and scientific.

HL/ HaitiLibre