Laurent Lamothe, the Minister of Foreign Affairs announces the opening this Tuesday, of the second edition of the Forum on Investment in Haiti "Invest in Haiti" to be held in Port-au-Prince, at the Hotel Karibe, the November 29-30, 2011.

"Invest in Haiti" wants to focus on certain opportunities offered by the country particularly in the areas of apparel manufacturing, tourism, agri-food and infrastructure sectors. The purpose of this forum is to allow representatives of various international companies to identify the windows of opportunity in terms of investment in Haiti, to dialogue with Haitian partners, customers and potential suppliers, be aware of the laws of the market and and conclude agreements profitable to the different groups.

Thirty countries and approximately 500 participants and investors will take part. This Investment Forum will be co-chaired by the President Martelly, the President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Luis Alberto Moreno and former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Among the Haitian authorities scheduled to speak at the event are Prime Minister Garry Conille, Finance Minister André Lemercier Georges, Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Lamothe, Public Works Minister Jacques Rousseau, Agriculture Minister Hébert Docteur, Tourism Minister Stephanie Balmir, and Trade Minister Wilson Laleau.

Among the private sector and civil society panelists are Joey Adler, CEO of Diesel Canada and founder of ONEXONE Foundation; Donna Karan, founder of Urban Zen; Frank Rainieri, CEO of Grupo Puntacana of the Dominican Republic; Dennis O’Brien, chairman of Digicel; Juan Esteban Orduz, president of the Colombian Coffee Federation; Bradley Horwitz, CEO of Trilogy International; Duncan Dee, COO of Air Canada; Kathleen Matthews, executive vice president of Marriott International; Kofi Taha, associate director of the MIT D-Lab; José Andrés, founder of Think Food Group and World Central Kitchen; and Sean Penn, founder of the JP Haitian Relief Organization.

Wednesday, foreign participants [from Latin American and Caribbean nations, North America, Asia and Europe] will be able to attend matchmaking sessions with Haitian business counterparts.

HL/ HaitiLibre