Haiti earthquake - international aid

Emergency summit to co-ordinate Haiti aid

Article published on the 2010-01-25 Latest update 2010-01-25 10:19 TU

An aerial view of damaged houses on a hillside in Port-au-Prince.
Photo: Reuters/Marco Dormino

Officials from a host of countries and international organisations meet in Montreal, Canada, on Monday to discuss plans for the reconstruction of Haiti, nearly two weeks after the country was struck by a devastating earthquake.

Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive will attend the six-hour, closed-door talks.

Also present will be Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and foreign ministers from France, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Mexico, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Japan and Spain.

Officials from the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization of American States, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund will also participate.

The talks will cover strategies to deliver food, water, drugs, and medical supplies to the growing number of people living in makeshift camps around the shattered capital of Port-au-Prince.

"Together with the government of Haiti, we need to roll up our sleeves and begin to lay the groundwork for the enormous task ahead," said Canada's Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon. 

"We must and we need to arrive at a common understanding and commitment on certain basic principles of responsibility, accountability and long-term engagement."

Japan will also take the opportunity to pledge 50 million euros of aid to Haiti, according to the Kyodo news agency.

Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia - whose left-wing governments have all criticised the presence of US troops in Haiti - are not attending Monday's meeting. The three countries' foreign ministers met in Caracas on Sunday to discuss their own assistance programme.

The Montreal talks are expected to lay the groundwork for a major donors conference on Haiti in the coming weeks.