VZCZCXRO0660
RR RUEHRG
DE RUEHBR #1428/01 3421723
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081721Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0039
INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 0024
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
RUEHTO/AMEMBASSY MAPUTO 0001

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BRASILIA 001428 

SIPDIS 

DEPT FOR WHA AND C 
USAID FOR LAC 
USAID FOR HAITI 
MLO FOR HAITI 

E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID EINV ETRD ENRG SOCI KSCA HA ECON
SUBJECT: USAID/Brazil and Brazil's Agency for Cooperation Visit Haiti to Advance Trilateral Cooperation 

¶1. SUMMARY: From November 22-26, USAID/Brazil, together with the Brazilian Agency for International Cooperation (ABC) visited Port-au-Prince to identify opportunities for trilateral cooperation in Haiti. Activities including project site visits and stakeholder meetings with Government of Haiti officials, the USAID/Haiti Mission, officials from The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), and representatives of the US Military resulted in the identification of a number of potential areas for cooperation. Although the areas identified for cooperation are still in the initial stages of exploration, prior experience cooperating in Mozambique, together with Minister Farani's willingness and ability to commit funds, suggest that Brazil is serious about working together. END SUMMARY. 

¶2. The joint USAID/ABC trip to Port-au-Prince, Haiti occurred on November 22-26, 2009 with the objective to explore opportunities for trilateral cooperation. Serving as facilitator, USAID/Brazil assisted in coordinating meetings with USAID/Haiti, coordinating joint visits to USAID/Haiti project sites, and participating in a number of meetings and visits alongside the Brazilian Delegation. The Brazilian ABC delegation included Minister Marco Farani, Director of ABC; Andre Holla Capella, Projects Analyst; Renata Coccaro, Projects Analyst; and Patricia Canuto, Projects Analyst and Haiti Desk Officer. Maristela Baioni, Programme Coordinator for UNDP/Brazil and General Jos???? Rosalvo Leit????o de Almeida, Special Assessor of the Ministry of Defense also accompanied the delegation. USAID/Brazil participants were Jeffery Bell, Mission Director, and Chris Foley, DLI Program Officer. MEETINGS 

¶3. Three meetings, one at the Office of the Prime Minister, one with the leadership of The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), and one with USAID/Haiti and the U.S. Military Liaison Office in Port-au-Prince served to provide background on activities and projects currently being implemented in Haiti and as fora to discuss areas of potential collaboration. On a separate but related visit that had some overlap with the USAID/ABC visit, a representative from U.S. Southern Command held meetings with the Brazilian engineering battalion in Haiti to discuss joint infrastructure projects. 

¶4. Prime Minister's Office: The Delegation met with Dr. Jean Palme Mathurin, representative for Haitian Prime Minister Bellerive. During the meeting, Minister Farani briefly outlined a number of their 31 approved projects in Haiti. Besides asking about progress on the 4C Dam project, a 130 MW hydro-electric dam that Brazil has proposed to construct in the department of Artibonite, Dr. Malthurin was specifically interested in projects that provided vocational training. In addition to the above mentioned names from the ABC delegation, Rafael Beleboni from Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Relations (MRE) in Haiti participated. 

¶5. United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH): Luiz Carlos da Costa, Principal Deputy Special Representative for MINUSTAH presented an overview of the political situation in Haiti, and together with Kim Bolduc, Deputy Special Representative for MINUSTAH, talked briefly about their priorities for cooperation with Brazil in Haiti, principally about the immediate need to provide gas or ethanol cooking stoves and subsidized cooking fuel. Major General Floriano Peixoto Vieira Neto, Force Commander of MINUSTAH, discussed the capacity and availability of MINUSTAH engineers and heavy equipment for infrastructure projects but noted the lack of funding to purchase inputs, such as sand, gravel, and asphalt, for projects. He spoke specifically about needed inputs valued at U.S. $1 million for a project approved by the Government of Haiti to improve eight roads in Port-au-Prince that would have an immediate and positive impact on the lives of city residents. Minister Farani tentativly agreed to finance the project. Besides the Brazilian and USAID/Brazil delegation, additional participants 

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included Brazil's Ambassador to Haiti, Mr. Igor Kipman, Colonel D????lcio Monteiro Sapper, Head of the Brazilian Engineering Company in Haiti, and Rafael Beleboni, MRE. 6. USAID/Haiti: USAID/Haiti Acting Mission Director Anthony Chan, Acting Deputy Director Alex Deprez, Program Officer Mervyn Farroe, and Health Officer Jorge Velasco hosted a meeting at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince at which they presented the USAID/Haiti portfolio to the visiting delegation. Military representatives present discussed the infrastructure work of the Brazilian Army in Haiti. Military participants included Major General Floriano Peixoto Vieira Neto, Force Commander of MINUSTAH; Colonel D????lcio Monteiro Sapper, Head of the Brazilian Engineering Company in Haiti; CDR David Strong from the US Military Liaison Office in Port-au-Prince; Col. Norberto Cintron, Command Engineer, U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM); and Marcelo Salas, U.S Army Corps of Engineers Liaison to USSOUTHCOM. 

¶7. U.S. Southern Command: Concurrent with the joint USAID/ABC visit, Colonel Norberto Cintron, Command Engineer, U.S. Southern Command visited US Embassy Port-au-Prince. Col. Cintron was looking at the feasibility of setting up cooperative efforts with the Brazilian engineering battalion and had some productive and positive meetings with his Brazilian counterparts. The Brazilian engineering battalion has strong logistical and construction abilities but limited funding for materials to undertake projects. One such project discussed was the possible repair and maintenance of several kilometers of the "Boulevard des Americains," which links the key transportation hub near Port-au-Prince's area with the country's main north-south highway. 

PROJECT SITE VISITS

 ¶8. Artibonite/Fondo Negro Visit: Jeffery Bell and Mario Nicoleau, USAID/Haiti Engineer, accompanied Minister Marco Farani and General Rosalvo on a helicopter over flight of the proposed site for the 4C Dam that Brazil is planning on building in Artibonite. Brazil has presented Haitian President Pr????val with four options for the dam, each of which present differing scenarios with regards to the number of people that would be displaced. Brazil is seeking assistance with the relocation of individuals that would be displaced once dam construction begins. The group also landed in Fondo Negro to visit ABC's model farm project that is introducing new varieties of beans, rice, manioc, and maize. 

¶9. Haitian Apparel Training Center Visit: Accompanied by Marlyne Lamothe, Trade and Investment Advisor for USAID/Haiti and CHF's Ann Young Lee, Minister Farani, Andr???? Capella, Jeffery Bell, and Chris Foley visited the current training site of the USAID/Haiti Haitian Apparel Center project. USAID, in partnership with the Government of Haiti, the Association of Haitian Industries, CHF and US industry organization TC2, is creating the Haiti Apparel Center to build the skills and "Full Package" capabilities needed to drive Haiti's growth and long-term success in the garment sector. 

¶10. Grace Children's Hospital: Accompanied by USAID/Haiti's Senior Medical Advisor, Dr. Olberg Yvan D????sinor, Andr???? Capella, Jeffery Bell and Chris Foley visited Grace Children's Hospital in Port-au-Prince, a pediatric hospital supported by USAID/Haiti that focuses on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculoses, immunizations and nutrition. AREAS FOR POTENTIAL COLLABORATION 

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¶11. Haitian Garment Industry: USAID/Haiti through its CHF/KATA project currently supports activities that take advantage of the HOPE II legislation that provides duty-free entry in to the United State for garments manufactured in Haiti. Minister Farani expressed interest in providing additional technical assistance to help increase the number of garment sector workers that the project can train. He pledged to send a team from the Brazilian vocational training organization, SENAI, as well as from the Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association, ABIT, to follow up and develop next steps with USAID/Haiti. 

¶12. Recycling: The Decheteries De Carrefour Feuilles facility in the Carrefour neighborhood of Port-au-Prince provides jobs to recycle sawdust, paper and cardboard to produce and market cooking briquettes, while helping to reduce the city's waste problem. USAID/Haiti is constructing a market in the same location and the excess and discarded construction material will be used as raw material for the cooking briquettes. ABC is interested in exploring possibilities of expanding the Carrefour Feuilles project and USAID/Haiti is interested in serving as a complimentary player in advancing Haiti's alternative energy development opportunities. Discussions will continue to determine how to move forward with similar synergistic activities in the future. 

¶13. Cultural Centers: Coordination will be worked out to try and bring Brazilian artist and musician, Carlinhos Brown and Haitian musician Wyclef Jean together to collaborate with Brazil and the United States on some sort of cultural/community center that would serve as a driver for community development. Both musicians are active philanthropically, Brown through his Pracatum project in Bahia, and Jean through his Yele foundation. 

¶14. Infrastructure: With regards to the infrastructure project mentioned in paragraphs 5 and 7, USSOUTHCOM expressed interest in providing additional funds to the US $1 million that would be required to improve the eight roads in Port-au-prince so that MINUSTAH or Brazilian Army Engineers could work on improving more than 8 roads in the city. Separately, SOUTHCOM is also interested in providing funds for MINUSTAH or Brazilian army engineers to work on road projects outside the city of Port-au-Prince. In initial discussions, having ABC or Brazilian engineering assistance to reconstruct the approach roads to the USAID funded Ennery bridge project between Gonaives and Cap Haitien were discussed, as were the creation/improvement of a number of rural farm-to-market roads. 

¶15. Assessments: USSOUTHCOM also expressed and interest and willingness to conduct any environmental assessments that may be necessary for the 4C Dam project in Artibonite. USSOUTHCOM also expressed interest in working with the Brazilians to do joint assessments of existing power plants in the country in an effort to identify ways to increase capacity. 

¶16. COMMENT: The joint USAID/Brazil-ABC trip to Haiti continues the close working relationship that has developed between the two organizations and is a first step towards jointly undertaking projects with a significant development impact in Haiti. Although the areas identified for cooperation are still in the initial stages of exploration, prior experience cooperating in Mozambique, together with Minister Farani's willingness and ability to commit funds, suggest that Brazil is serious about working together. On the USAID/Haiti side, the dedicated and cooperative manner that the Mission demonstrated throughout the trip in combination with their stated willingness to follow-up proactively with designated Brazilian partners on the ground in Haiti bodes well for future collaboration. Minister Farani seems eager to initiate joint projects, and with the level of interest and cooperation demonstrated by USAID/Haiti, these initial projects should serve as pilots, paving the way for larger joint projects in the future. 

END COMMENT 

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KUBISKE