Associated Press |
"I know a couple places in America that would commit mayhem to get 20,000 jobs today," Clinton said at the gathering in a Port-au-Prince industrial park. Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said the agreement will help break Haiti's dependence on foreign aid as a substitute for a functioning economy. "Aid had never been able to bring sustainable economic prosperity to any nation, including ours," Bellerive said. He called the signing "the best day of my life." The deal was in negotiation long before the earthquake, moving forward after Clinton was named U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's special envoy to Haiti in 2009 and given responsibility for increasing private investment. Garment factories were identified as a key area for growth because under the relatively stable rule of dictators, and before the political upheaval that followed their ouster, Haiti was an important regional manufacturer of cheap clothing and other goods. The agreement will create an industrial park near the northern city of Cap-Haitien also open to other factories. It is scheduled to open in early 2012. Sae-A said it will invest $78 million on equipment and agreed to adhere to International Labor Organization standards. The United States, represented at the signing by senior State Department official Cheryl Mills, will provide $120 million for generating electricity, housing for workers and improvements to the port. The Inter-American Development Bank will provide $50 million for building factory shells and infrastructure. The European Union is separately spending to improve roads in the region. Haiti's government will own the park and contract its management. Clinton said he hopes the deal will encourage other investors to move forward with projects in Haiti. "We took a big step in the right direction today," he said. Clinton identified Gap, Wal-Mart and Hanes Brands as likely major participants, as they have agreed to purchase at least 1 percent of their inventory from Haitian sewing factories. An expert from Gap helped consult on the deal. Sae-A chairman Woong-Ki Kim said the deal will increase the company's capacity. Among the company's 20 existing factories are plants in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Indonesia and Vietnam. There are mixed opinions about the quality of life for workers in the factories. Few Haitians have formal work and many jump at the chance to receive any regular wage. The key report by economist Paul Collier, commissioned by Ban and quoted in press materials given out at the signing, identified Haiti's low wages as a competitive advantage, saying it has "labor costs that are fully competitive with China." Attempts to significantly raise the minimum wage in Haiti's factories have since been stymied. Under a compromise law passed over street protests in 2009, Haitian garment factories must pay workers at least $3 a day -- less than two-thirds the minimum wage for other jobs in the country. The Haitian congressman who championed a further increase won a rare senatorial victory as an independent against President Rene Preval's Unity party in the Nov. 28 election. The deal signed Tuesday was furthered by U.S. legislation that expanded duty-free access to the American market for Haitian textile and apparel exports through 2020. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the new Republican chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was at the signing. The deal is one of the few significant plans toward the government's post-quake goal of reversing decades of migration from the desiccated countryside to Port-au-Prince. Sae-A has also been considering putting factories in a largely undeveloped area north of Port-au-Prince. The head of a Haitian firm that was active in those negotiations also led the government's post-quake relocation commission. He identified his company's own land near the proposed site to put Haiti's first official quake relocation camp, an Associated Press investigation found last year. Built by the U.S. military, U.N. and aid groups, the camp is largely considered a failure -- too remote from services and suffering floods from summer storms. Plans for further relocation camps were scrapped. |
From the Press
IDB hails new industrial park in northern Haiti
Monday, 22 October 2012 21:16 UTC
Manufacturing facility generates jobs, exports in less than one year since groundbreaking.
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A. (IDB) -- Inter-American Development Bank President Luis Alberto Moreno today joined Haitian President Michel Martelly, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former U.S. President Bill Clinton for the inauguration of the Caracol Industrial Park (CIP), a modern manufacturing facility in northern Haiti.
La BID : 50 millions de dollars pour le Parc industriel de Caracol
La Banque interaméricaine de développement (BID) a annoncé l’accord pour l’octroi d’un don pour Haïti s’élevant à 50 millions de dollars américains. Ces fonds sont destinés à la deuxième phase de construction du Parc Industriel de Caracol dans le nord d’Haïti.
FACT CHECK — THE NEW YORK TIMES: Earthquake Relief Where Haiti Wasn’t Broken
On July 6, 2012, the New York Times published an article entitled: “Earthquake Relief Where Haiti Wasn’t Broken”. The piece has numerous factual errors and does not address many of the most salient points about the development of the Northern Corridor.
«Je suis impressionné», s'exclame le président Martelly - Haïti: Lundi 7 mai 2012. Il est 11 h 25 a.m. Le président Michel Joseph Martelly arrive à bord d'un hélico. Il foule le sol du parc industriel de Caracol en compagnie de l'ambassadeur américain Kenneth Merten et du ministre de l'Éducation nationale et de la Formation professionnelle, Réginald Paul. Tenue décontractée : chemise rayée, pantalon jeans bleu bottes. Il n'a pas effectué une visite surprise, car on l'attendait depuis son retour au pays après quelques jours d'absence pour des raisons de santé. Il n'y a pas eu de foule au parc industriel, mais des employés qui criaient vive Martelly!
Caracol : le rêve de 20 000 emplois prendra forme très lentement : Ceux qui avaient visité le Nord et le Nord-Est, à la fin de 2011 et au début de cette année 2012, ont constaté toute la propagande, à travers d'énormes panneaux publicitaires faite autour du parc industriel de Caracol, avant parc industriel de la région Nord. Ces messages annonçaient la création de 20 000 emplois au cours de cette année. La réalité en a décidé autrement. Quelle réalité ? --Le Nouvelliste 3 mai 2012
"We're no longer talking just about garment assembly. We are talking about a true textile industry short of planting cotton. That is what is being developed', said George Sassine, who is also responsible for implementing the US congress-approved duty-free legislation benefitting the garment industry". -- The Miami Herald, 29 March 2011