Above: the meeting of Brazil’s National Confederation of Industries (Photo: OPM Haiti)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe arrived in Brasilia Monday morning for a five-day visit to Brazil, following his trip to Cuba last week.

He will visit Brasilia, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro on the trip.

On Monday afternoon, Lamothe held talks with Brazilian Defence Minister Celso Amorim, focusing on the Brazilian presence in the MINUSTAH peacekeeping mission and Brazil’s support for the construction of a hydroelectric dam in the Artibonite region.

Lamothe said he was also seeking Brazil’s cooperation on the creation of a national rapid-response police force that would include 600 officers, along with the “speedy ratification” of cooperation agreements to create a corps of military engineers.

On the trade front, Lamothe attended a lunch of the National Confederation of Industries.

Along with Brazil’s recent projects in Haiti is a $1 million pledge to support planned legislative elections.

Brazil, which has seen an influx of Haitian migrants in the last few years, recently announced a move to legalize thousands of Haitian immigrants who crossed into Brazil through Bolivia.

Lamothe said he thanked Brazil’s government for its “total support.”

Lamothe is being joined on the tour by a Haitian delegation including Minister Delegate for Energy Rene Jean Jumeau; the Co-President of the Presidential Advisory Council on Economic Growth and Investment, Gregory Mevs; the director general of FAES; Klaus Eberwein, Bernard Schettini, the director general of Haiti’s industrial parks agency and Andy George Rene, the CEO of Haiti’s Centre for Investment Facilitation.

The trip follows a visit to Haiti at the end of 2012 by a delegation from Brazil’s National Congress.