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GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) - Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide said he expects an agreement with the political opposition as soon as next week to end a long-running stalemate and clear the way for a resumption of aid to the impoverished nation.

Aristide spoke to reporters Thursday night as leaders at the Caribbean summit worked on securing aid for their struggling economies and avoided discussion of an outburst of political violence a day earlier that left two dead and at least 12 wounded.

The Haitian president criticized international donors for suspending hundreds of millions of dollars in aid over an electoral dispute with the opposition, calling the blocked aid an ``economic embargo.''

``We need the opposition,'' Aristide said. ``They are our brothers. We will keep talking with them. That is the only way to pave the way forward for a better Haiti.''

The political stalemate stems from disputed local and legislative elections in 2000. Aristide's party won a vast majority of seats, but the opposition said the vote was rigged. The Organization of American States ruled elections for seven Senate seats should have gone to a second round.

Haiti is expected to be approved as the Caribbean Community's 15th member during the three-day summit in the South American country of Guyana. The meeting ends Friday.

Police maintained a heavy presence Thursday on the streets of Georgetown to prevent violence like the confrontation between police and opposition protesters on Wednesday. Police fired on a group that broke away from a march involving thousands and forced open a gate to enter the yard of the president's office.

Two died and at least 12 were treated for gunshot wounds, hospital officials said. Protesters burned at least three cars and set fires that gutted two buildings. On Thursday, however, no violence was reported.

Guyana's 800,000 people are divided almost evenly between those of African and East Indian descent, and political allegiances follow racial lines. The opposition is supported mainly by black Guyanese, many of whom argue they face discrimination under the government of President Bharrat Jagdeo, who is of Indian descent.

After the violence, police erected barricades Thursday to block off the hotel where the summit was being held in the former British colony.

With Caribbean economies struggling amid global competition and declines in tourism, leaders set up a task force to help raise more than $250 million in loans for the eastern islands, plus more aid for other nations, said Prime Minister Lester Bird of Antigua and Barbuda.

``The idea is to put together a process which would allow us to go internationally and also to central banks to raise capital,'' Bird said.

Economies in the region have been hurt by declining tourist arrivals since the Sept. 11 attacks, reduced banana production due to drought in the Eastern Caribbean islands, and low international prices for bauxite, sugar and gold.

Many nations are reluctant to approach the International Monetary Fund due to tough loan conditions, Bird said.

Dwight Venner, governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, said many nations plan to approach the European Union and other countries including Libya, Japan and Kuwait for low-interest loans.

``We have traditional donors and we have non-traditional donors, and in this open world it is a part of your sovereignty to approach who you want to,'' he said.