As part of the XX Inter-American Congress of Ministers and High-Level Authorities of Tourism of the Organization of American States (OAS), held in Quito, Ecuador, from 11 to 13 September 2012, Stéphanie Balmir Villedrouin, the Minister of Tourism and his Ecuadorian counterpart Freddy Ehlers have signed Thursday in Quito, an agreement of cooperation in tourism.

The agreement provides a cooperation in heritage protection, the development of community tourism, the certification of destinations and the training of tourism agents.

The Government of Ecuador has announced that following the agreement, a delegation from the Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador will travel to Haiti in October of this year, to assist in the development of this sector, as the first step of the collaboration between the two countries. Ecuadorian technicians will evaluate during their visit the tourism situation in Haiti, which will allow to create a group of experts to work together.

The Minister of Tourism, indicated that the agreement with Ecuador comes rengthen the confidence of tourism operators and of investors, with the objective that Haiti back into the international tourist circuit after 30 years of absenceand that Haiti become a new tourist destination in the Caribbean. "Completely change the image of Haiti will take years, but we will create a tourist destination with all the necessary infrastructure."

HL/ HaitiLibre