 Well, good morning, everyone, and welcome to this important session. Two years after the Talbrill earthquake in Haiti, Haiti's in the process of turning the corner. But there's a great danger that the world will be turning the page. Because with a crisis in the Eurozone, with the other challenges, it's so easy for people to forget both the challenges, but also the great opportunities in Haiti. And to ensure that that does not occur, we are having a session here today. And President Martelli, we're so pleased that you can be with us here today. Mr. President, a few days after the terrible earthquake, we were holding our January Davos in 2010. And in a conversation between Klaus Schwab and President Clinton and also with Luis Moreno, the decision was made to actually put Haiti up front in the conversation then. And so we had a number of public and private sessions in 2010, where we said, we need to do what we can now, but we should even more importantly commit ourselves to doing more going forward. Because we realized it was going to be a long term issue. Over the last two years, we've tried to keep that commitment. So last year, we had sessions on building back better. Both in the public and private sessions here. We also produced a number of different analyses looking at the opportunities for private sector driven, but partnership implemented growth in Haiti. And now today, we're extraordinarily pleased to have you here with us. Because at a time when the world might be turning its back on Haiti, you're here to give a voice and a face to the new Haiti, the new possibilities. So Mr. President, on behalf of everyone here at the World Economic Forum, welcome to Davos. Thank you, Robert. And thank you for the support that you have brought to Haiti since the earthquake particularly. And thank you everyone for your interest for Haiti. I came here mainly to tell you that the old Haiti that you've been hearing about, the images that you've been seeing. This Haiti is all over now. I have nothing to do with politics before I got elected. I was a musician. But because I was always involved in trying to change the lives of my brothers and sisters, Haitian people, I became someone that detrusted. They felt like my heart was always in Haiti, that my love for Haiti was sincere, my commitment was sincere. So it became easy for me to win these elections. And since then, I'm happy to say that things have started moving. When I came to power, I felt like Haiti still looked like the earthquake had happened the day before. But since then, we've been able to bring 903,000 kids to school freely. We've been able to provide free transportation to them. We have started building 4,000 homes in an area outside of Haiti. We have, I have appointed for the first time since seven years, the Supreme Court Judge. I have started, I have launched a program called Abagangutou to fight hunger, where mothers, about a million, will be getting money through fund transfers. And in order for them to be eligible, they must send their kids to school and the kids must be vaccinated. We have here with the help of the IDB in Haiti, an economic forum where about 1,000 investors came to Haiti. And from that, we were able to get some very important deals. One of them, the Marriott deal, about a deal worth about 150 million. Again, it's small compared to what Haiti needs today. But it's very important, it's a strong signal compared to what was never done before I came in. So I'm here to reassure the world, tell you that this is a new Haiti. I'm here, I'm in power to take decisions to change the lives of the Haitian. We are fortunate to have some partners who believe in us. I can mention the IDB, I can mention Nestlé, who's doing some work down in Haiti. I can mention Marriott. Dennis, who's doing some great work in Haiti. And all of these companies who have dared today, happy that they did. We are, I'm ready to stand by anyone who comes to Haiti to invest, to protect their investment, allow them to enjoy the advantages, fiscal advantages, the laws and the treaties that Haiti has. For instance, the Hope Law, the Help Law, who allows you to export freely from Haiti to the United States of America personally. We are very encouraged with what's happening. We are actually building what's going to be the biggest industrial park in Haiti in the north of Haiti, where we hope to employ directly and indirectly about 80,000 people. SEA, a Korean company, is investing $60 million. So these are great news. I'm here to tell you that you're welcome to come to Haiti, visit, and find out that this new leadership is about no more aid, but trade, no more handouts, but hands up. We are working toward diminishing the getting aid from countries. We want to bring investors' investment to Haiti so we can create jobs and therefore have sustainable development. This is actually my message. And with this, I will return to you. Well, thank you very much, Mr. President. And one of the elements that was very important that you underlined was the democratic processes that have taken place over the last year that resulted in your being elected, not because you were the choice of the establishment, but because you were the choice of the people of Haiti, and with all the credibility and energy that that provides. At the same time, it's clear that the last two years have been challenging. And for those who were involved in every level, including Haitians themselves, there was a sense it didn't go as fast as people wanted. What's your sense of that? Why? Why did it take so long? And what do you think the situation's likely to be going forward? Well, for not having been a politician, I believe that the politicians were not too happy with my victory. It was a huge victory, about 68% of the population. They wanted that change that I had promised. And when I came to power, it was hard for me to even get my prime minister ratified. I had to wait about seven months. But while I was waiting, I didn't stop working. Indeed, I did start marking points. For instance, I came in in May. And the next school year, which started in October, I had already 903,000 kids in school. Wherever there's democracy, you have to deal with it. And we intend to follow the process, except that people are becoming more and more confident as they are identifying success and great stories of success. So every day, things are getting better. The confidence remains high, as far as the population is concerned, as they have identified that we are moving in the right direction. So things are getting better. Well, Mr. President, you mentioned the point about things getting better. One of the things that people may not realize is Haiti's growth last year was 8.6%. In fact, the IMF January projections that came out, which actually downgraded the world, upgraded Haiti's growth prospects to almost 9% for this year. So there is a sense of possibility. But let me go forward from the situation now to the situation by the end of your term. What would you like to be the situation in Haiti by the end of this term? Well, for instance, this park that's being built in the north, we expect to duplicate, have many of them a little bit everywhere in Haiti, so we can actually create jobs. Mariette, that's coming, is a great news. We also have the best western coming down. We are building roads here and there with the help of the IDB. We have integrated the national number one about a few months ago. We are actually working on the south side of the country. As far as the energy sector, we are today at 25% of what's needed in Haiti. And in Haiti, we complain about not having electricity, but I see this as an opportunity for big companies who are interested in that sector to come down to Haiti. And I do expect that by the end of my term that every kids will be in school freely, that we be able to have many roads built, many hotels, many jobs created. And if I succeed at doing this, we will have moved forward. And certainly the rule of law working at making sure that the rule of law prevails. And I have appointed a commission for judicial reform as corruption is something that we need. We must eradicate. We must. That's an ambitious agenda. And you mentioned partnerships to do that. And you referred to the Inter-American Development Bank. And, Ruth Moreno, you've been involved in Haiti passionately and personally in your role as the head of the Inter-American Development Bank for many years. And particularly since the earthquake. What's your prognosis of the situation now? Well, look, first of all, I think you all can judge from the kind of energy that President Martelly has what this means on the ground. When one thinks of Haiti and the kinds of stresses it's been through, it's something almost impossible to imagine. Because what that earthquake meant to Haiti and some of the natural disasters that preceded it were really, really huge. And no matter what country in the world if it went through that, it would have a very long period of recovery. What we see today is truly a new day. A new day where some of the things, the commitments that the international community made are starting to come together. But more importantly, the fact that you have a president elected democratically that he's been able to appoint an extremely strong team. Very good prime minister. I mean, these were things that before did not happen in Haiti. But more importantly, with a very clear focus around that number of areas. One is education, which I give a lot of credit to the president for focusing on that, because I believe that this is really the game changer. Here's a country with almost 1.3 million kids that do not go to school in a population of 9 million. I mean, what country can endure that over time? And we're talking that the average age in Haiti is probably 24. So this is a hugely important issue. And the president really took that on. And I think everybody in the international community is going to follow him in a process where no longer does a family have to pay $100 per kid per year. But it will be a system that is tuition free, that you can basically work on lifting the quality of education. That's the kind of environment that you can really put in place a new education system that you perhaps could not put in any other place because the complexities unions and the rest of it. The other parties, of course, the infrastructure. I mean, Haiti, for many, many years, more than reconstructing is about constructing. I mean, there were so many roads that were never built. And we, and others, European Union, Canada, and many other donors, US, have participated in helping build some of the key roads that Haiti needs, build the power structure, the needs in power, the needs in water and sanitation, all of which we have been working on. And of course, the agricultural sector. I mean, Haiti is a country that largely imports most of its food. If we know anything today is that we're in an environment that for the next 10 or 15 years, the world's going to see rising commodity prices because of larger demand in other parts of the world. And I think that's something that needs to be taken the best opportunity of and begin to help develop, especially the central plateau, that it has a huge potential, the productivity levels. They are very low, but that's something we're working on. And as we know, getting the kind of agricultural production requires the whole system of irrigation to be in place, logistics, et cetera. But some of that we're working on. I'm sure that Bruce will tell you some of the examples that are being developed there. And finally, the development of the private sector. And here I think what President Martelly and his focus on giving an opportunity to the private sector and embracing the private sector coming to Haiti is very important. I wanna say that there is no country in the world that has a better trade agreement with the United States than Haiti. And for that matter, what the minister here did recently is begin to enlarge that trade agreement to other countries in the world. So what you have is a platform that is literally an hour, 15 minutes from the United States, centrally located with extremely good labor force because the one thing that few people talk about, which I think is the biggest resource Haiti has, is its people. Talk to anybody, and I'm sure our friends from Mary will tell you, they will tell you the kind of quality workers the Asians are in their hotels throughout the United States. Or Dennis can tell you the same. And this, I believe, is the combination of a real opportunity that the first mover advantage, companies like Dennis, companies like, and what he's done with DigiCell, what Mario is doing, they will, they know that in the long run, the fact that they move now, is gonna make a difference. And I would, talking about DigiCell, Dennis O'Brien, you're the largest private sector and investor in Haiti, but you're also, perhaps, the most engaged. I mean, you've seen it through the challenges that, at least Mariana was talking about with the hurricanes and the earthquake, but you've actually kept at it. And in fact, the results are quite different than people would expect if they just read the headlines. What's your prognosis right now in the situation? Well, you know, it was shocking the earthquake, but it was an inflection point for Haiti, because people had views of what Haiti was like as a place to invest, and they didn't invest. And now we see democracy working really well, and we have the disappearance of the old Haiti. And under this new presidency of President Montelli, we're seeing a kind of a night and day experience, because as a foreign direct investor, you're conscious of what the political situation is, and now we have a stable situation. The state more and more is taking back over the governance of the country away from NGOs, and there is a lot of capacity building. And in that kind of environment, it gives you great confidence. So up until a year ago, we'd invested about $450 million, and in the last six months, because of this new stability, we're investing another $150 million in laying fiber 4G networks. And I would say to all foreign direct investors, Haiti is one of those places where it's about to explode over the next number of years. We're seeing last year grew by 9%. We think next year is going to, this current year is going to be another, maybe it could be 10%. So it's a high growth economy. It's a very cash-based economy. It's a consumer economy as well. And I think for international brands, we've seen in the last month or so, how high it can come in and make a huge investment in the country. And I think more and more major players are going to be looking at Haiti and coming to invest. And I think the opportunities in infrastructure-building airports, in ports, road-building reconstruction in tourism, I mean, the opportunity for tourism is absolutely vast. If you fly over the northern coast of Haiti, you'd nearly fall out of your seat. How beautiful it is. So I think there's a lot of opportunity, but I think as a place to do business, Haiti is really, really a very, very solid place to be. We operate in 30 countries, but we are so enthusiastic about Haiti, we are out telling foreign direct investors come because the opportunities are immense. And the other fundamental thing is our staff. You know, the engagement from staff, the quality of the management as well of our Haitian managers is second to none. So you have a very intelligent workforce, hardworking workforce, and they just all the time want to improve their own situation, but their family situation. And the family unit is so powerful in Haiti that it's just incredible. So I'm very positive. My board is very positive. And I think, you know, what we've seen in the last four or five months, the quicker decision-making is, I think, a great credit. And I think the support of the World Economic Forum, IDB, President Clinton has been an incredible advocate, and so has Klaus. So, you know, it really has a lot of very support. So I think the reception that President is getting here this week is really, really powerful in a movement of change. And Dennis, it's interesting with your experience because there's no doubt there's a challenge. The government institutions are just being built or rebuilt. There's getting to know and understand how to work effectively in Haiti. What's your advice to companies or organizations who are looking to engage with Haiti? I mean, how does one do that effectively? Very, very easily. I mean, obviously, the President is here, he's with his staff as well. So, you know, if there are people out there to the World Economic Forum, of course, you know, please make contact. I would be delighted, obviously, to, I'm sure, Lewis would as well, just to talk to foreign direct investors and give them our experience. And yeah, there are little wrinkles along the way, you know, things you have to overcome, but that's the same if you were to invest in any country in Europe. So, there are, you know, for people out there, this has been televised, just make contact with the World Economic Forum. Arne Sorensen, you're talking about investors. You've actually just made, and Mary's just made a significant investment in Haiti. Maybe you could share with us your thinking behind that, but also what do you hope to accomplish with that? Well, first, let me say it's an honor to be on the stage with a group of leaders that is doing so much for Haiti. I'm humbled to be in your presence and really inspired by what you have done on the ground there, President Martelly, welcome to the new leadership role that you're taking and we've watched what Dennis and Digicel has done and it's extraordinary the progress that has been made. What we've done is very small by comparison in many respects, but when the earthquake hit, we heard from our Haitian associates, and we have a few thousand Haitian associates in the United States, mostly in Florida and New York, that they wanted us to be involved with them somehow in Haiti. And we initially made a donation, but they wanted something more, and ultimately they came up with the idea of why don't we find a way to get a hotel in Port-au-Prince? And so we reached out to President Clinton and to Dennis through Digicel and started our conversations about that market and came to love the potential that is there. There's an obvious and immediate need for hotel rooms to welcome the people who are traveling to Haiti today, and so there's a real business need for this hotel to be built and constructed. And we're really inspired by the fact that there will be 175 Haitians working in that hotel when it opens, and we'll work with them to train them and do the things that are needed in order to make sure that we're taking care of our guests and doing the things that need to accomplish. The work that we did, again with these partnerships, which is so important, really told us that it was time to put a sign up that Haiti is open for business. Welcome to Haiti. And we hope that by putting the Marriott brand boldly on a building in Port-au-Prince, that we communicate to folks, not only can you get a good night's sleep when you come and we'll take care of you in that very concrete way, but you should come to Haiti. It's safe to come to Haiti. There are things happening in Haiti. There's business being done here and there's also enormous tourism potential. We start with one hotel, but hopefully it doesn't end there because as has been mentioned, when you fly over this country and you see the potential, and as compelling as President Martelli's smile is, we see it on thousands of Haitian associates in our hotels all the time. This is a people that is extraordinary at welcoming and giving pleasure in life, and we hope to be part of that in the great place of Haiti. And one of the very interesting things of the last couple of years has actually been the very creative ways in which different organizations internationally have been engaged. I mean, the President Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative have played a really important role in terms of gathering together different stakeholders. Dennis, you've played a leadership role with President Clinton on that element, but we've also seen a number of corporations step up. Coca-Cola and Mutar Kand after a conversation, Luis, I think with you here in Davos two years ago, launched forward with a very bold concept. Nestle's been involved recently in announcing engaging in coffee growing in Haiti with the Coffee Growers Association of Columbia, a very interesting model. In the earthquake and immediately afterwards, Google, McKinsey & Company, PWC, Accenture, a number of other organizations here have been very engaged. Mercy Corps is now working with one of Europe's largest insurance companies to set up a for-profit social entrepreneurship micro-insurance scheme in Haiti. So the interesting element is being not just who's being involved but how they've been involved and these new partnerships working between government, civil society and the private sector. So it's not one or the other, but it's the two or three working together. And in fact, I think one of the best examples of that is Bruce, the work you've been doing with Koch, with Mutarkent, with Technosur's leadership and capability, taking the inspiration that came out of the conversation in Davos and actually making it reality on the ground. So maybe you could share with us, Bruce, some of your perspectives in terms of that journey. Sure. Well, thanks, Bob. And as you said, this was an idea that came out of a conversation that Louise had with Mutarkent here two years ago in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, but thinking even then beyond reconstruction to rebuilding for the longer term. Koch has been on the ground in Haiti, was a larger employer for many, many years, but as they started to think about challenged by this conversation, what could they be doing more broadly? Building on some work we'd done with them in East Africa, they thought. We are actually, at this point in the United States, selling a lot of fruit juices, sourcing fruit among the mango from Mexico and other parts of Latin America when in fact Haiti grows some of the best mangoes in the world. And in fact, the Francique mango is unique to Haiti and it's one of the best flavor profiles there are. And so with that in mind, Koch very aggressively moved to partner with us, with IDB, with USAID and other partners, and in seven weeks launched the Haiti Hope Initiative to actually build their supply chain backwards into Haiti and to work at that point about 25,000 mango farmers. So in March of 2010, the Adwala brand which is a co-brand launched Haiti Hope, Mango Tango is their second largest selling fruit juice. The dime from the sale of every one of these goes back into their investment in Haiti. And that money is being used to organize farmers to engage commercially and to give them an opportunity to increase their own income by virtue of their work and their link into a viable commercial market. So our efforts are to organize farmers around agronomy but more importantly into co-ops and farmer-owned business groups that can commercially interact with markets to help them get access to credit which has not been available in any large-scale way for farmers, particularly smallholder farmers, working there with Sojasol with backing from the Clinton-Bush Haiti fund to work with intermediaries in that value chain because that's what you have to, that's what Koch can't do. Can they get in and work with the providers of logistics and transportation and storage service to work with the exporters on actually getting the quality product in the fresh market into the United States and then to begin thinking even now about the investment possibilities around processing for purees on the ground in Haiti. And I think it's that kind of enlightened approach on the part of Coca-Cola thinking about how do we think about creating shared value? How do I think about doing what I do as Coca-Cola in a business sense but also widening that to think about actually how can I actually accomplish a broader social purpose? In this case, it's doing what President Martelli referred to. It's no longer about handouts, how do we give people a real hand up? And there are ample opportunities to do that in agriculture but in small business development too. But in agriculture, you refer to coffee, cocoa, essential oils, limes, vertebra oils, rice as an import substitution play. There are real commercial possibilities for indigenous Haitian entrepreneurs if given the right sets of relationships, training, and access to capital. President Martelli, when you listen to this, about the actual growth rate of over, I mean the actual realized growth rate of 8% last year, 9% according to the IMF maybe as high as 10 according to Dennis for next year. I mean that's pretty exciting but at the same time is also pretty challenging. What do you see as the biggest challenges that we need to collectively overcome in the next year or two to kind of realize some of these opportunities? Robert, going in that direction, I feel like we will overcome. I feel like everyone in the Spaniard is a partner. They are engaged in helping me change Haiti. We have started, things are happening. So I believe that we will have some challenges but they will be overcome. We will move forward on every aspect. Today, clean water remains a problem but we have enterprises that are down in Haiti working at making clean water available everywhere. I just mentioned the energy problem which is a real problem but again it's big opportunities for some companies and they are coming down. We haven't mentioned today Aine Ken who just brought a brewer in Haiti and with this they are also thinking of producing rice and other crops that can be used to actually make the beer. So the real challenge was to create jobs in Haiti, create jobs, create jobs and with the kind of partner that we have on this panel and who are also serving as ambassador. They didn't just invest in Haiti. They come here to the World Economic Forum and they promote Haiti. They talk about their investment and the success that they're having down there. I think we're not afraid of the future. Let's open it up and get some questions and comments because we want to take the conversation from this group here but also more broadly. And let me turn to Scott Gilmore. You've been involved with Peace Dividend Trust in social entrepreneurship models around the world including challenging places like Afghanistan and elsewhere. What's your take on the Haiti situation and what's your also any advice you would provide to the president? Well, President Martelli, it's a pleasure to see here today. I'm actually delighted to see such a strong private sector presence here on this panel. We recently did a survey of the construction industry in Haiti and found that before the earthquake, only 25% of the large scale construction that was taking place in Haiti was being done by Haitian companies. That's up to 45% today. But it's still significantly lower than what it could be Haitian construction companies are capable of doing great things. And it's always a little bit heartbreaking when I see foreign construction companies building hotels and that. And frankly, I shouldn't use the hotels as an example because the international community or the international private sector is so much better at this than the United Nations is or the aid agencies. And so actually the question I have for the panel is why is it Mr. Sorensen that you can use local contractors to meet your profit objectives and get things done. And yet Mr. Martelli, we see again and again and again the United Nations has to fly people in to do the same thing. Well, this is... Well, this is... Please go ahead. This is something that we're talking to our partners about partnering with Haitian companies, subcontracting them and it's happening. It's actually happening. You have to understand that today Haiti is a land of opportunities. So businesses come to Haiti looking for contracts and through the IHRC who was the commission in charge of the reconstruction of Haiti, they have gotten contracts. So the main thing is to make sure that Haitian companies get some part of the jobs but we will not keep anyone out as we want to keep on attracting businesses in Haiti. Can I just chime in here? I mean, there are some very good Haitian contracting companies. We use about 12 of them. And I think there's an awful lot of capacity there and capability. So I think that is changing. And I think we should also welcome in international companies as well because they also do a technical transfer. So I think it's a combination of both. But I don't think anybody can say, well, we're not going to use international firms or we're only going to use Haitian firms. I think it's a competitive market. And we're seeing Cure, for example, KIER, which is a UK company, come in. They're highly capable organization but there's also highly capable Haitian contractors. So and the quality is good and efficiency is good and standards are being raised. So I think there isn't a necessity to bring in a whole pile of international people. There are plenty there already. I'll just say that the way we work and I think it's very important from a development perspective to helping all the institutional building of the Haitian government. And that's what we have been very committed. But it's also important to think a bit in the line that Dennis was saying in having different kinds of models. For instance, in the water system of Port-au-Prince, we brought in a Spanish company that's very successful in administering this water systems throughout the world. But they're doing it with Haitian staff. And I think it's not a, you know, one is better than the other, but it's just solution-driven and in the capacity building of the country as a whole. I think this is really the one area that we all have to invest over time if you are in the development field as we are and that's what we have been doing. And frankly speaking, if you start to look at not only what President Martelli would tell you, but around his government, you're starting to see that, you know, death of talent that began to be there. And there's things, for instance, that we have been working in these doing business indicators. President Martelli is working on something that we did, for instance, for allowing quick decisions on construction licenses or for starting a business, which I guarantee you will move up the dial in whatever any, the World Bank or anybody looking at doing business indicators in Haiti will show that Haiti will begin to move up in this area as well. Also the last earthquake that we had would have to go back to about 150 years. So we don't, we'd never had that culture of building with antisismic. So we need these companies to come down now and show us how to do it, as Dennis was saying, transfer of technology. So it's very important for them to be on the ground also on that aspect. Very interesting. We'd open up other questions, other comments from different perspectives. Please, sir. You could introduce yourself. George Foster from Stanford University. Sometimes when you have situations like you have in Haiti now, it sort of kick-starts the entrepreneurial community. I was just wondering, are you seeing some of that going on in Haiti? Can I answer that? Please, Dennis. We, in the last couple of years, have run the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in Haiti. And we've done this on a regional basis and we've done it for people who have small, tiny micro-businesses, medium-sized and large-scale businesses. And, you know, the response has been, we run a television program over many, many weeks and then there's a grand final. And just before Christmas, President Martelli gave the award to all these different category winners and then the overall winner. And it has been, you know, the highest-rating TV program in Haiti. So it is, there are nine million entrepreneurs in here. I used to think Ireland was entrepreneurial until I went to Haiti. Everybody is entrepreneurial in Haiti because they're used to making a living. You know, they come from a farming background, so many people, and they're buying and selling things. And, you know, there are people who are getting together co-ops in the mango business, but also in the sewing pads as well, coffee co-ops. There's so many groups coming together as entrepreneurs and collaborating that it's really very, at the grassroots level, it's incredibly vibrant. And if you travel around the country with very limited capital, people have done extraordinary things. And I think it's a mixture of, you know, getting investment, obviously the larger-scale investments, but also true funds that IDP have been making available to these kind of micro-investment funds is the way, you know, to build up the economy. So it's not like other countries were, you know, entrepreneurism, you have to nearly drag it out of people. Everybody's an entrepreneur nearly. I think I can just build on that, because it was interesting, one of the other elements that came out of the conversations in Davos two years ago was a partnership between SAP and Grimim out of Bangladesh to set up a social entrepreneurship fund called Huawei Haiti, because there was a sense that there is this element of entrepreneurship, but it's how does one channel and inform that entrepreneurial spirit to be able to compete effectively in 21st century business models? And so that's one element. So can we actually take experience and expertise from the private sector, other parts of the world to help actually empower that Haitian entrepreneurial spirit? And then the Canadian government under CEDA has actually been involved, I believe, Mr. President, in a number of technical schools to actually help create the education for employment. So as these businesses are developed, they actually have the technical skills behind them. Perhaps, Mr. President, you could comment a little bit on this, how does one equip the Haitian people with the education that's necessary for the jobs of today and the future? Before I answer to that, I want to ask also that Spain gave us a fund of 50 million dollars that has been given to the IDB, so we can, through our institutions, lend money to the young entrepreneurs. And I'm positive that pretty soon we're gonna feel, we're gonna start filling the impact of these young entrepreneurs. As Dennis has stated, probably from living such a difficult life, every Haitian has become an entrepreneur. They had to create means to survive. And today, because they are being offered opportunities, and I must add to that that Haitians, when offered opportunities, they do succeed. I believe that there's gonna be some movement. Please. Hi, I'm Elizabeth Hausser with Bill Change, a social enterprise that is working in Haiti to train and empower people to rebuild and retrofit houses there. We work, we hire Haitian engineers and then we partner with the private sector in order to supplement the engineering and management capacity that we need in order to deliver our programs. But I'd like to ask a question about why there isn't more private sector involvement in some of the large-scale infrastructure projects that are going on. Recently, the World Bank let out an RFP for a large infrastructure project and I understand that the shortlisted organizations are all NGOs. And I'm wondering if there's some, what are the obstacles there if it's a procurement issue from the bank standpoint or if it's a registration in Haiti standpoint or what's getting in the way? Or if those NGOs actually have the private sector as their subs. That's great. Well look, I can tell you from our own experience, actually there is a couple of large engineering companies that have done what I think is fundamental to be able to get contracts in the future which is to bet on Haiti. And to bet on Haiti means not just to get one contract fly by night, bring all your people and goodbye. We look for companies that are gonna sell themselves, bring the equipment, live it in Haiti, hire Haitian engineers, hire Haitian people and they frankly have done a tremendous job. There's a Dominican company, there's a Brazilian company, there's, you know companies, one of the fascinating things in Haiti is for a country that was so fundamental in helping liberate and support, for instance, Simone Bolivar. In his, when he was broke, in his campaign to liberate the Andean countries, he went to Haiti and he went to Haiti and got funding. He came and left to do one of his most important campaigns. Well, many countries in Latin America never looked at Haiti. Today that's very different. And a lot of companies and investors from Latin America are looking at this investor opportunity because what we see today increasingly, of course, is the nurturing of the South-South kind of cooperation and development. I must add to that that the bureaucracy in Haiti had been heavy in the past and that had discouraged entrepreneurs. And we have many laws that are in front of the parliament right now waiting to be voted. For instance, it's only the other day that we voted the laws on building condominiums. In 2012, the co-proprietary being able to buy an apartment and living together. So we were slow at doing these things. And now with this new leadership, it's very encouraging and people are looking more and more so that we'll help the private sector move. Mr. President, the hour has gone very quickly. Any last words? Well, again, I would like to thank everyone who has been with us today. Again, I would like to thank everyone who is showing interest in Haiti. We have been hit by nature many times, but we are fighters. We will come back, and especially with the kind of support that I feel from the World Economic Forum, from the partners that are here on the panel, and from the people who are actually showing interest in Haiti. I believe that better days are ahead of us. So thank you, and I welcome you to come and visit Haiti, see for yourself. And I want you to see in this new leadership a partner. As I've stated before, we will stand by you, protect your investment, and make sure that you can prosper and make money. When you do, you pay your taxes, you create jobs, and Haiti prospers. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Let me just close in thanking all the panelists. Luis, you made a really important point that Haiti and FAT was the second republic in the Americas. In 1804, through their own determination, they won their freedom. So with a proud past, and now with the potential of a hopeful future, and just like in 1804, the key secret today is going to be leadership. So thank you very much, Mr. President, for being part of this.