Another kind of HOPE for Haiti

Two weeks ago UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon made a joint visit to Haiti with Haitian-American musician Wyclef Jean and Bill Clinton - whose Clinton foundation is potentially shaping up to be a major donor here. In follow-up this op-ed by Ban-Ki Moon was published yesterday in the NYT along with another article about economist Paul Collier's influence on the UN policy in Haiti. Moon's hope for Haiti is rooted in a piece of US trade legislation passed in 2008 - the HOPE II bill. Ashamedly (for someone who says she is into these things) this op-ed is the first I had heard of it. The bill provides duty-free and quota-free access to the US market for goods coming from Haiti for the next 10 years.

Theoretically, in our globalized world, bills like this one should not be needed at all. According to WTO conventions, we are supposed to be moving towards a global free market economy where quotas and limits do not exist in the first place. Many developing countries have been forced to adopt such open trade laws as a condition to receiving money from the World Bank under structural adjustment policies. However the United States and Europe continue to put protectionist trade policies into effect and create bilateral and regional trade agreements that benefit/ protect their own economies while often harming/limiting producers/exports in less preferred markets (e.g. much of Africa).

To effectively take hold of this trade-related HOPE, Haiti's government will have to take some concrete actions to lower port fees and reduce other internal obstacles (e.g. terrible roads) to getting products out of the country. While the European Union has been giving lots of money for roads in recently years with some visible results, it's hard to believe that the necessary government action will happen any time soon. We are still waiting for the senatorial elections scheduled for April 2008 to take place.

That said, in Haiti you should never take any hope (or in this case HOPE II) for granted.