The In­ter-Amer­i­can De­vel­op­ment Bank (IDB) says it has reached an agree­ment with the gov­ern­ment of Haiti to launch a five-year re­cov­ery and de­vel­op­ment plan process for the French-speak­ing Caribbean Com­mu­ni­ty (CARI­COM) coun­try.

The IDB said that at the re­quest of, and un­der its lead­er­ship, the bank will co­or­di­nate this joint ef­fort with the World Bank, the Unit­ed Na­tions, and the Eu­ro­pean Union.

The agree­ment of the Medi­um-Term Re­cov­ery and De­vel­op­ment Plan for 2025-2030 was for­mal­ized in a joint state­ment signed by IDB Pres­i­dent Ilan Gold­fa­jn and Al­fred Fils Metel­lus, Haiti’s Min­is­ter of Econ­o­my and Fi­nance, on the side­lines of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meet­ings now un­der­way in Wash­ing­ton.

The IDB said that this part­ner­ship be­tween Haiti and mul­ti­lat­er­al in­sti­tu­tions builds up­on the Rapid Cri­sis Im­pact As­sess­ment, led by the World Bank, which out­lined and quan­ti­fied ur­gent, pri­or­i­ty needs in the met­ro­pol­i­tan re­gion of Port-au-Prince.

“The IDB is ful­ly com­mit­ted to lead­ing this ini­tia­tive with our glob­al part­ners. The Medi­um-Term Re­cov­ery and De­vel­op­ment Plan for 2025-2030 is a joint ef­fort de­signed to strength­en Haiti’s re­silience and lay the ground­work for a more sta­ble and pros­per­ous fu­ture,” said Gold­fa­jn.

“By bol­ster­ing Haiti’s econ­o­my through pri­vate-sec­tor-led growth, en­hanced hu­man cap­i­tal, and strength­ened in­sti­tu­tions, we aim to cre­ate con­di­tions for last­ing peace,” he added.

Metel­lus said Haiti is at a cru­cial mo­ment, and this part­ner­ship is es­sen­tial to chart­ing a sus­tain­able path for­ward for the coun­try.

“By pri­or­i­tiz­ing re­gion­al in­vest­ment and fos­ter­ing ter­ri­to­r­i­al eco­nom­ic de­vel­op­ment, we can pro­mote sta­bil­i­ty and cre­ate new op­por­tu­ni­ties across the coun­try, ben­e­fit­ing all Haitians.”

The IDB said a key fo­cus of the plan will be to iden­ti­fy and pri­or­i­tize crit­i­cal in­vest­ments for re­gions out­side Port-au-Prince, es­tab­lish­ing a roadmap for medi­um-term de­vel­op­ment and pro­mot­ing al­ter­na­tive eco­nom­ic hubs to strength­en growth and dri­ve sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment.

The plan is built around three pil­lars, name­ly bol­ster­ing eco­nom­ic de­vel­op­ment and strength­en­ing the pri­vate sec­tor for rapid, in­clu­sive, and sus­tained growth;  en­hanc­ing de­liv­ery of ba­sic ser­vices and de­vel­op­ment of hu­man cap­i­tal and im­prov­ing in­sti­tu­tion­al ca­pac­i­ty, the rule of law, jus­tice and se­cu­ri­ty.

The IDB said the plan will first fo­cus on cre­at­ing a pole of eco­nom­ic de­vel­op­ment in the Great North and then move se­quen­tial­ly to oth­er ter­ri­to­ries that of­fer op­por­tu­ni­ties.

The IDB, the gov­ern­ment of Haiti, the World Bank, and the Unit­ed Na­tions have ini­ti­at­ed tech­ni­cal meet­ings to iden­ti­fy crit­i­cal in­vest­ments for the Great North.

“These col­lab­o­ra­tive ef­forts aim to ad­dress key needs and chal­lenges and pro­mote sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment across var­i­ous re­gions. Haiti’s gov­ern­ment of­fi­cial­ly an­nounced the plan in Port-au-Prince on April 10 in an event that brought to­geth­er min­is­ters, gov­ern­ment rep­re­sen­ta­tives, and donors,” the IDB.

It added that the plan re­sponds to a re­quest from the gov­er­nors at the 2024 IDB and IDB In­vest An­nu­al Meet­ings in Pun­ta Cana, Do­mini­can Re­pub­lic, where min­is­ters urged the IDB to take a cen­tral role in sup­port­ing Haiti’s re­cov­ery and long-term de­vel­op­ment.

WASH­ING­TON, Apr 22, CMC –

CMC/ag/ir/2025