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Way paved for Haiti to become member of Caribbean Development Bank (CDB)

THE 36TH annual conference of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Board of Governors ended on Friday, with the Caribbean financial giant welcoming the announcement that the way has been successfully paved for Haitito become a full-fledged member.

President of the CDB, Dr. Compton Bourne, in his closing address during the final session of the conference said: "We welcome the announcement by the government of Trinidad and Tobago of its decision to enter a joint constituency arrangement with Haiti, which would pave the way for that country's full-fledged membership in the bank," he said.

"Now that elections have been held and the security situation has improved, we expect that a way has been paved to commence some operational work in Haiti," Dr. Bourne added.

The conference, which opened at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montego Bay on May 15, ended Friday.

Addressing journalists after the closing ceremony, the CDB president said the week of meetings "went extremely well", with a general commitment to improving the economic prospects and livelihood of the Caribbean people.

COMMON CAUSE

"We came to the view that the CDB and the region must make common cause in increasing the flow of investment resources that are required for the economic transformation of the countries, and that we should devote sustained efforts toward expanding the membership of the bank, improving our relationship with other international agencies and countries that may contribute to the financial resources of the bank," Dr. Bourne said.

He observed that while the organisation had made progress towards reducing poverty in the region and building human resource capacity, there was still the looming existence of the challenge of poverty alleviation.

"The meeting of Governors of the CDB welcomed the completion of successful negotiations for the replenishment of the special development fund in the bank, targeted towards poverty reduction," Dr. Bourne said.

"We expect that there would be further contributions to that fund before this year is over, so we would be able to sustain our efforts, or provide resources directly to communities, as well as for various investment projects at the governmental level, for the improvement of the livelihood and economic prospects of all our people in the Caribbean," the CDB president added.