|
Bill Clinton
announces new $20M Haiti loan fund
(AP) –
PORT-AU-PRINCE,
Haiti — Former President Bill Clinton announced
a plan Thursday to help Haiti recover from the
Jan. 12 earthquake with loans to small and
medium-size businesses backed by aid from the
world's richest man.
Clinton said
Mexico's Carlos Slim would contribute half the
seed money for the new $20 million fund. The other
half would come from Canadian businessman Frank
Guistra. Both men were with the former president
at a news conference in Port-au-Prince to announce
the fund, which is expected to grow from
additional contributions and earnings from the
loans over time.
Money from the fund
will be loaned to Haitian businesses that
otherwise might not have access to capital in a
nation that was already desperately poor before
the earthquake that killed an estimated 300,000
people and destroyed about 105,000 homes.
"We hope to
empower entrepreneurs with the tools to transform
their aspirations, hard work, and good ideas into
profitable businesses that create jobs and help
fuel the growth of the Haitian economy," the
former president told reporters.
Clinton, a U.N.
special envoy to Haiti, was in the country to
attend the first meeting of the Interim Haiti
Reconstruction Committee, which will oversee the
more than $5 billion pledged by the international
community for reconstruction.
The $20 million
fund is a project of the Clinton Foundation,
through the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth
Initiative, and Fundacion Carlos Slim, a
philanthropic organization created by the Mexican
telecom magnate who this year surpassed Microsoft
co-founder Bill Gates as the world's richest man.
|
