UN envoy to Haiti hopeful following successful donor meeting in Washington

The senior United Nations envoy to Haiti today hailed a recent fundraising meeting for the Western Hemisphere's poorest country as evidence of growing international support for its future development.

Speaking to journalists at UN Headquarters in New York one day after donors wrapped up a conference in Washington, DC, Juan Gabriel Valdés said that event marked "a new window of opportunity, a new climate, a new hope for Haiti."

In the last two months, the UN and other international actors prepared a plan for rehabilitating Haiti, which has been ravaged by the twin scourges of poverty and political instability, he said.

"This document, which constitutes a framework of action in terms of development, has been supported yesterday in an extraordinary way by the donor countries," said Mr. Valdés, a former Chilean Foreign Minister who was named to the UN job earlier this month by Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"This is not the end of the story - it is a new beginning," said the envoy. "We have lots of work to do in the next months."

The Secretary-General praised Mr. Valdés for his "extensive" diplomatic experience. "I expect him to do great things for us and for the Haitians," said Mr. Annan.

Video of press remarks