Posted on 01/15/2010 3:12:46 PM PST by LibWhacker
France has asked the Paris Club of creditor nations to speed up the process of canceling Haiti's debt.
France's Economy Minister Christine Lagarde says she has contacted other members of the Paris Club to accelerate the cancellation of Haiti's debt of nearly $78 million.
Haiti did owe $84 million. But Lagarde says about $6 million has been canceled since Tuesday's devastating earthquake.
France chairs the Paris Club, which in July agreed to cancel most of the debt owed by Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest country.
In addition to France, the Paris Club includes the United States, Britain, Japan, Russia, Germany and 13 other countries.
On Thursday, French President Nicholas Sarkozy called for an international conference on rebuilding Haiti, a former French colony.
France has sent planeloads of emergency aid and rescue teams to Haiti. Mr. Sarkozy said he plans to visit Haiti in the coming weeks.
France also Thursday said it is suspending deportations of illegal Haitian immigrants, and will temporarily open its borders to earthquake victims who need help.
France is home to about 80,000 Haitian expatriates. Haiti was a French colony from 1697 until it won independence in 1804. French is still one of Haiti's official languages, along with Creole.
Baby Doc is still living it up in France, I suggest that France send him the bill.
$78 million, Hell that’s a dinner check for this administration... couple of date trips to New York City or a Holiday in Hawaii.
Might as well. They’ll never be able to repay it anyway.
France wants to “surrender” the Haitian debt, big surprize.
Why in the h-— is there any debt? The place is a hell hole, add to the debt all the money poured in by charities, and nothing gets done.
Obama has pledged 100 million already. Plus substantial sums from the private sector charities, red cross, etc.
A good reason not to cancel the debt, is to insure that the govt doesn’t borrow more and waste it. Their budget and expenditures need to be managed by an outside authority and the UN isn’t the one to do it.
The shame here is that the democratic societies allow so many failed states to continue to act like normal states and not be cured.
Yeah, it’s a shame. There should be some kind of accountability for the funds that are sent to Haiti.
It should be this way so that we get the value for our dollar and they can make the most of what is GIVEN to them.
I guess that makes me a bad guy or a racist? The very last thing that I want is Barack Obama throwing around blank checks with our signature on it.
They need too....Those high energy biscuits the UN has been handing out are stale.
Cancel the debut if you want. Haiti could never reture those obligations. But the bank accounts of the Duvalier family, Aristide, and rulers, military and police officials, diplomats and other Hatian elites of should be offset against those loans.
The money should be easy to locate. I’d be surprised if much of it wasn’t in branches and affiliates of the same banks that made those loans.
Talk about flushing moolah down
the crapper! Port-au-Potty.
Under the best of circumstances, Haiti would have had to borrow the money to pay its debt, so what’s the difference?
Aristide says he’s ready to return for round 3.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/15/haiti.earthquake.aristide/
Sure, it won’t be repaid regardless.
One provision to the agreement: Haiti may never ask for, nor receive a loan from the loaning nation. Ever.
No you are just being reasonable, our money has just gone down the sewer there, wait, there are no sewers!
The way that money is lent to developing (i.e. will never develop hellholes) nations is criminal- to both the poor of those countries and to the taxpayes of the countries that fund those loans. The money ends up lining the pockets of the rich corrupt in those nations, and the repayment, as well as terms, cripples the people of the receiving nations for decades. In the meantime, we are the people who fund the loans in the first place, in the guise of “humanitarian aid.” This is one area where both knee-jerk liberals and fiscal conservatives should find common ground.
Haitian refugees would be much happier in the south of France than Miami. Let France offer them shelter there; pas de merde.
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