WASHINGTON, CMC – The United States has reaffirmed its commitment to Haiti, where efforts continue to bring peace and security to the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.
US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met Tuesday with visiting Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille and Foreign Minister Dominique Dupuy. They discussed the ongoing crisis in Haiti and the recent arrival of the United Nations-authorized Multinational Security Support mission led by Kenya.
“The Secretary reaffirmed the US commitment to the mission and the Haitian people,” said State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller.
“In addition to improved security, the parties reinforced the importance of good governance, including facilitating free and fair elections, inclusive growth, and providing humanitarian assistance.”
Earlier, Blinken told reporters that Washington welcomed Prime Minister Conille’s visit, saying, “This is an important time for Haiti, an important time for the many countries—including the United States—that strongly support Haiti.
“We have the prime minister, foreign minister, a government in place, and the Transitional Presidential Council, which has been stood up. And we have now deployed the Multinational Security Support mission to help the Haitian National Police regain full control of critical parts of Port-au-Prince and the country”.
Blinken said all of this is to ensure that Haiti can return to the path of having “free and fair elections and making sure that, as we move forward, the support for Haiti from the international community can go forward in the most robust way possible.
“The prime minister and his government are leading Haiti at a critical time to be able to move all of this forward, but he comes to Washington with the strong support of the United States and the strong support of many other countries, both in the region that we share and well beyond, including, of course, our colleagues from Kenya who are leading the Multinational Security Support mission at this moment,” he added.
The US Secretary of State said he was “very much looking forward to hearing from the prime minister and from his team about the steps forward to be taken as Haiti moves toward elections and as we make sure that the environment in Haiti is strongly conducive to those elections, and also to making sure that the support, assistance, development work can go forward in a way that benefits the people of Haiti.”
Conille said while the Transitional Presidential Council is not underestimating the challenges ahead, “we’re incredibly grateful for the support and solidarity of the American people, and we would like you to convey our gratitude to President Biden, who’s been, of course, a strong champion for Haiti.
“We think the next few weeks and months will be quite interesting, but we’re confident with the establishment of the presidential council, the establishment of this new government, we’re going to be able to take on these challenges straight on,” Conille added.
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