mr president our thoughts today are with the people of haiti in their tragedy and i am sure all members will want to send their condolences to the people of haiti
it is a tragedy but as gay mitchell has said it is a tragedy in a country where seventy-five of people already live below the poverty line
as we look to the future that is something we really need to be looking at
the public has responded magnificently to the challenge of helping haiti
in the uk alone gbp thirty million has been raised in just a few days from the public during the financial crisis so we know that the public is behind us in our efforts to raise funds for haiti
high representative i want to thank you for the work you have done in pulling together a quick eu response on this matter
we learned at the time of the tsunami that in fact good coordination is as important as the actual funds we put on the ground
it is not about which flag goes on the aid it is about getting the aid out there working with the united nations to get it delivered
looking to the longer term i am pleased that there will be an international conference on haiti
i think we need to look at the whole issue of haiti about its outstanding debt and i hope the debt problems of haiti will be on the agenda at the international conference
haiti owes usd eight hundred and ninety million to the international creditors and a large part of that is to the imf
the imf has given haiti a usd one hundred million loan
can we convert that into a grant
there is no point impoverishing this country for another one hundred years
so i hope you will put that on the agenda of the imf meeting
i hope as well that we will address other issues and i think you are right that the issue of the border with the dominican republic is equally important
so thank you once again for your efforts and i hope the whole house will work hard to find a good coordinated effort
