Philippe Armand, Vice President of AACCLA and Board Member of Amcham Haiti speech at Amcham cocktail reception

Mr. Ambassador

Mr President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Haiti (AmCham)

AmCham Members

Ladies and Gentlemen

Thank you for the honor bestowed upon me by the President of AmCham, Mr. Rick Hicks, in being selected to address this august body tonight.

We have come to the end of the year and this is the time for us to reflect on the past year and on the future. Looking back on 2011, we are celebrating the end of the year, a year which for Haiti has been most important with this first democratic transition in just about a decade and only the fifth such transition in the last 50 years.  Simultaneously almost two years away from a disastrous earthquake, the reconstruction has begun and many hopes are appearing in the hearts of the Haitian people.

As a Haitian I personally am also most proud to have been elected this year to serve again in Washington DC, as Vice President of the Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America and the Caribbean (AACCLA). As a member of the Governing Board of AACCLA, I shall endeavor to represent the best way I can, the interests of the Region and obviously of Haiti in particular.

AACCLA is a division of the large US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE which groups 3 million businesses in the USA. ACCLA is present in 23 countries in the region and focuses on:

• Market access (removal of trade barriers and trade facilitation)
• Rule of Law (as a prerequisite to Competitivity)
• Corporate sustainability and the flow of US investments in the Region
• AACCLA’s advocacy agenda in the region, i.e.:
  • predictability
  • consistency
  • accountability
  • transparency
  • respect of intellectual property
  • due process (for dispute settlements)

Over the years AACCLA has been  most supportive of the efforts of AmCham-Haiti and at this new turn of Haiti’s history we can count on this continued support. AACCLA is determined to back up all AmCham-Haiti’s efforts in Trade Facilitation and inflow of US investments in Haiti.  During my first term in office as Vice President of AACCLA I recall the support we received  from the US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE who rallied behind the HOPE BILL.   This support was most effective and today. I believe we can count on more support from that Institution.

AmCham-Haiti, ACCLA and the US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, what a network to assist the “reopening for business” of HAITI promoted by the new Haitian Government. And this does not stop there.  The presence of prominent figures such as President Bill Clinton on the Presidential INVESTMENT ADVISORY BOARD, the commitment of Ambassador Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the INTERAMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK, the involvement of sizable international investors in our economy today, make up the BLUE RIBBON TEAM that Haiti needs to change paradigm and become a modern nation.   Yes Haiti is just about to take off and the Private Sector of Haiti must be most  proactive to make sure Haiti does not miss this golden opportunity.

AmCham-Haiti is ready to accompany the process of Trade Facilitation and Economic Development . This is our Mission and in this new era, the Competitivity approach is the way to go about it. We recognize that with the Competitivity model, Education is  the prime element required to Compete. Education is indeed a vector of economic development and in modern times, Haiti needs not only educate its people but mostly needs to apply new methods most relevant to  modern technology.   Not only is Education key, but it is a key to the development and to the challenges of future generations. The educational system must indeed be geared towards “the new entrepreneurship of innovation”. To that end, we must pay tribute to the fact that the Martelly-Conille government is prioritizing education as a right of the people and given our commitment to Competitivity, AmCham-Haiti supports these efforts.

In fact, “Innovation of the Individual” is the basis of COMPETITIVITY in this new market economy. Therefore a Modern Educational System must be geared towards this  new “entrepreneurship of innovation” and be integrated with:

• equity
• social justice
• social inclusion

To that effect and as re-enforcement beyond education, AmCham-Haiti encourages Corporate Social Responsibility among its members. We see “social investments” as rewarding investments and we know that in modern societies, the citizen does not rely on the State only. Worldwide businesses discover more and more that those who do not have Corporate Social Responsibility as a major concern, are censored by the population, the consumers at large.

Today and more than ever, AmCham-Haiti is ready to assist the Haitian Government on the “ease of doing business in Haiti”. This is our priority. So much needs to be done as an attempt to catch up the development of the Region, that at this new economic turn,  we must pause, reflect seriously upon our future and proactively act accordingly.

It is a known fact that Economic growth can only be sustained with strong small and medium size enterprises. But SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES in Haiti are typically of smaller scale than equivalent enterprises in developed economies. As a result, they derive less economies of scale and therefore experiment a lower productivity. These inefficiencies fuel a broad informal sector and all this tends to hamper Competitiveness and Economic Development.

Furthermore, the factors that slow down COMPETTIVITY in Haiti are to name a few:

• the structural weaknesses
  • the losses from Power Outage
  • the high interest rates on Real Estate
  • high costs of communication
  • the transportation constraints
  • high transaction and operational costs
    • we are not short of capital but short of “access to capital”
    • land access and land titles issues are an impediment
    • land value is further compromised by access to utilities

limited availability of local infrastructures (roads, industrial parks, airport, port)

• the prohibitive Tax Rates in many areas
• the prohibitive individual property security costs
• a low level of educated skilled labor
• the government’s  bureaucracy.
• the lack of confidence in our Courts System.

Hence, Haiti’s Development must live up to the requirements of Foreign Direct Investments and Trade Relations. But investing in constructions of all kinds will not be enough. The amount spent is not everything. It all must be linked to a good curriculum, to the availability of technology and we should never allow ourselves to be isolated from the advanced economies. Rather, we should bear in mind that big multinationals moving internationally go for:

• the ease of language communication
• a fair legal systems with clear rules and the elimination of corruption
• a more efficient country through a more efficient government administration.
• the safeguard of a democratic environment
• the re-enforcement of authority and the respect of land titles.
• an educated workforce
• low trade barriers
• a lower cost of capital.
• an equilibrium in society (environment, economic and social)
• ………………all as key factors to the development of a modern economy.

Connecting the dots, Trade Facilitation and Investment imply understanding the formula :

• Competitivity measures do attract foreign investment.
• Foreign investments do increase employment
• Employment does increase consumption

In other words,”Competitivity is a new way to organize and structure development”. The reverse is just as true since “institutional weaknesses are known to prevent Competitivity

Trade Facilitation for Economic Development through Competitivity is AmCham’s mission and our most determined focus for 2012.. We shall behave as strong advocates of the principles of COMPETITIVITY.  In doing so, we intend to achieve our Mission and to satisfy our Membership, help our Private Sector and benefit our country at large.

A new paradigm, common in more advance economies, is emerging now in our Nation :

“The Government must become a facilitator for Social and Economic Development while the Private Sector must be the  Motor of that Development.”

With this paradigm, the Haitian Government must be encouraged to initiate:

• the explicit implementation of the Rule of Law
• the process of a strict identification of the population
• the formal cadastre of the land and the establishment of Special Courts to settle land titles issues
• a free literacy level for all  and a good  access to formal education
• a fiscal code that facilitates competitivity and economic development and thus attracts foreign investments (level playing field)
• the development of  infrastructures

(land, roads, ports, energy, communications with importance of internet access)

• a general access to Credit
• etc……

Simultaneously, the Haitian Private Sector must be encouraged:

• to be good entrepreneurs of innovation
• to be good corporate citizens
• to be the motor of the economy

A country with a “sustained competitivity” is a healthy country.

and Haiti  ought to have that long-term national vision

regardless of the variances of succeeding governments.

The fear to fail should not stop us from trying all this.

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