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Haiti invites South Florida Diaspora to invest back home
- Monday, April 23, 2012 8:03 PM
MIAMI, USA (defend.ht)- At a Miami Beach economic conference Monday April 23, 2012, top Haitian government officials are calling on Haitians in Diaspora to return home and invest in their country.
The Sustainatopia conference, a two-day Haiti investment forum, opened on Monday in Miami Beach Monday aiming to get Haitians living in South Florida and everywhere in Diaspora to invest in Haiti.
The 2012 Investment Forum will feature 30 speakers, almost all of whom are Haitians. They include Haitian entrepreneurs already creating jobs in Haiti, outgoing Prime Minister Garry Conille and the country’s new ambassador to the United States, Paul Altidor, reports The Miami Herald.
Organizers have also invited Laurent Lamothe, the country’s prime minister designate and current foreign minister, who has called on his ambassadors and consul generals to promote business diplomacy by promoting investment opportunities back home.
But equally as important as the economic growth and job creation is the conversation Haitians in the diaspora need to have among themselves about how to better engage in their homeland’s future, said Johnny Celestin, executive director of the Haitian Diaspora Federation.
“The diaspora isn’t going to disengage with Haiti,” Celestin said. “We know that we are being milked. The question is: ‘What are we going to get out of it?’ We can’t just sit on the sidelines and not take chances.”
