On Monday, October 19, the Japanese Ambassador accredited to Haiti Mizuno Mitsuaki and Claude Joseph, the Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs, initialed a grant agreement stemming from the KR 2020 food assistance project.

The KR 2000 project is part of the continuity of cooperation between Japan and Haiti, and reflects the will of the Japanese government to support Haiti's efforts to achieve food security.

As part of this agreement, Japan will make available to the Haitian State a total amount of 400 million Japanese Yen, the equivalent of ± 3.8 million US dollars which will be used to purchase rice which will be sold at a preferential price by the Office for Monetization of Development Assistance Programs (BMPAD) on the Haitian market according to the terms of the agreement.

The revenues generated will be set aside by the Haitian Government as a Counterpart Fund, which will allow it to carry out social projects, including the supply of medical equipment to hospitals, the construction of school infrastructure, and the construction of police housing in order to improve the living environment of the population.

It is also important to point out that on the one hand, the KR 2020 project will make it possible in the short term to respond to the current food emergency and that on the other hand, material support is being provided to the sector, through agricultural tractors and drilling equipment which will soon arrive in Haiti to increase agricultural output (this non-project support is part of the "Program for economic and social development, signed between the two governments in October 2018 .)

At the end of the signing ceremony, Chancellor Joseph declared "[...] I am delighted that the resources generated by this Program have already enabled and will continue to allow the realization of multiple projects of great importance for the country. in general [...] in various fields such as food security, infrastructure, sanitation, etc. Thus, several public buildings, schools or hospitals damaged or destroyed by the earthquake of January 12, 2010, for example, were refitted or rebuilt from the counterpart funds of this Assistance Project."

In addition, Joseph took the opportunity to inform that an agreement had recently been made between the Chancellery and the Embassy of Japan, on the basis of a request made by the Rectorate of the State University of Haiti (UEH) through BMPAD, so that counterpart fund resources are mobilized for the construction of the premises of the École Normale Supérieure.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23860-haiti-japan-new-cooperation-policy-2018-2022.html

HL/ HaitiLibre