Above: Haiti PM Laurent Lamothe (centre) (Photo: OPM Haiti)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe has officially launched a new “strategic” body called the Council of Economic and Social Development.

The new council has a dual mission of simplifying administrative procedures and facilitating investment and private initiatives in Haiti.

It is intended to work in cooperation with Haiti’s National Development Plan in an effort to harmonize policies in different sectors.

Jerry Tardieu, CEO of the new Royal Oasis hotel in Petionville, has been named the council’s new president, while Louis Naud Pierre has been named its General Coordinator.

The council was launched at a ceremony at the Karibe Hotel in Petionville.

Lamothe said the CDES would provide a “space for dialogue” in strengthening the socioeconomic rights of the Haitian people.

He said he was calling on all stakeholders in social and political life — both parliamentarians and members of the private sector — to work together to support his government’s “determination to build a new Haiti.”