On April 26-27, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will host the first-ever Global Impact Economy Forum at the Department of State and Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business in Washington, DC. The Forum will bring together over 350 high-level investors, business executives, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, academics, and U.S. Government leaders from the White House, Departments of State, Commerce, and Treasury, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the U.S. Agency for International Development...

During this important Forum, Hillary Clinton, speaking of Haiti declared " [...] look at northern Haiti. With its proximity to the U.S. market, the area has great potential to be a regional manufacturing hub. But for decades, despite interest, there was a lack of industrial facilities, limited electric supply, inadequate ports, which all held back private investment [...]

So last year, working with the Government of Haiti and the Inter-American Development Bank, the State Department facilitated a $500 million public-private partnership with the leading Korean garment manufacturer Sae-A. This partnership will develop a globally competitive industrial park in northern Haiti, one of the largest in the Caribbean. It will include an onsite power plant, a waste water treatment facility, and executive residences. Sae-A has projected that it will create 20,000 jobs [in the short term] and they will be investing more than $70 million in northern Haiti.

The region will continue to benefit from ongoing investments in housing and health clinics, a new container port, and electrification projects for the towns surrounding the industrial park. Sae-A began moving into the first two new 100,000 square feet factory buildings this week, and we expect other tenants to follow later in the year..."

HL/ HaitiLibre