Above: Haitian President Michel Martelly with a visiting delegation Friday

By the Caribbean Journal staff

United Nations economists examined ways for the country to attract investment moving forward, joined in Port-au-Prince by Haitian President Michel Martelly.

“It is time to stop looking for excuses and start working,” Martelly told the meeting.

Experts from the UN Conference on Trade and Development advised the Haitian government to reform regulations and institutions dealing with investment, and to focus on attracting financing to rebuild and improve national infrastructure.

“Governments implementing the recommendations of previous investment policy reviews have often managed to attract higher levels of foreign direct investment,” UNCTAD said in a release.

According to Chantal Dupasquier, Chief of Investment Policy Reviews at UNCTAD, the Haitian government needs to adopt a “phased and selective” approach to regulatory and institutional reform, infrastructural development and investment promotion.

She was among the experts at the three-day meeting earlier this week, which was attended by a number of Haitian officials.