Haiti pres, Clinton form board to court investors

President Michel Martelly announced that the panel he has created with former U.S. President Bill Clinton will help redevelop Haiti, whose capital and outlying cities were shattered in last year’s earthquake.“To build the economy, we need new ideas and new investments,” said Laurent Lamothe, a telecommunications entrepreneur who is a senior adviser to Martelly. He will be co-chairman of the council with Clinton, the U.N. special envoy to Haiti.

The council will be similar to a reconstruction panel set up in the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake to coordinate international aid for rebuilding Haiti.

The new panel will focus on expanding the economy by luring investors to create new businesses. Martelly has said he wants to create 500,000 jobs over the next three years.

Overseas companies have long been leery of investing in Haiti because there is red-tape, confusion over laws, insecurity, and sometimes political instability.