Joe Borg represents EU at Washington donors' conference

European Union Commissioner Joe Borg is in Washington DC representing the EU at an international donors conference intended to raise financial support for Haiti's recovery.

Dr Borg will be one of the main speakers at the two-day conference, organised jointly by the World Bank, the United Nations and the European Commission. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Haiti's Prime Minister, Gerald Laturtue, will also address the conference.

The conference's aim, being held at the World Bank headquarters, is to raise money from the donor community for Haiti's urgent and medium term economic, social and political needs. Over the past two months international and national donors and experts have prepared an assessment of Haiti's priority needs. According to this assessment, known as the Interim Cooperation Framework, Haiti will need $924 million in the next two years to implement a recovery plan.

Haiti has had a turbulent political history and is ranked 146th on the United Nations Humanitarian Development Index. It is estimated that two-thirds of Haiti's eight million people live below the poverty line.