Oct 2 (Reuters) - A conference headed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton lured several hundred potential investors this week to the poor Caribbean nation of Haiti, where decades of political upheaval seem to be giving way to a semblance of stability and a new push to ease economic woes.
The conference produced no major investment or jobs announcements but the United Nations said economic developments since Clinton was named U.N. special envoy to Haiti in May hold promise.
Here are some of the commitments and developments highlighted by Clinton and the United Nations:
-The Clinton Global Initiative recently gathered 21 project commitments valued at $258 million for Haiti, including a three-year, $2 million pledge by actor Matt Damon's Water.org to provide safe water and sanitation for 50,000 people. Habitat for Humanity and the U.S. Agency for International Development pledged $4.5 million to repair 1,500 family homes in two cities damaged by last year's hurricanes.
-As part of $170 million in new projects generated through the CGI last year, a bridge to link the town of Boucan Carre to the rest of Haiti's Central Plateau was completed last week.
-Haiti won $1.2 billion in debt relief from the World Bank, IMF and other creditors in July, freeing some $50 million a year for spending over the next 10 to 15 years.
-The World Bank's International Finance Corp. is funding a two-year technical assistance program to help create 10,000 new jobs. This builds on steps by the Soros Economic Development Fund and Haiti's WIN group to invest $45 million to expand industrial capacity, projected to create 25,000 new jobs.
-Clinton brought to Haiti high-level representatives from the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, the arm of the World Bank that provides political risk guarantees to foreign investors, as well as the Overseas Private Investment Corp and the Export-Import Bank of the United States, a move the United Nations said would significantly enlarge the pool of investors in Haiti.
-Private biofuels company Bio Tek and the government are partnering to increase the use of biofuels in Haiti, a project expected to create hundreds of jobs for local sugar farmers.
- Royal Caribbean Cruise Line recently invested $55 million to develop Labadee, a beach resort near Cap Haitien, and expects to bring up to 1 million tourists to Haiti by 2011. The company also will create a new vocational school in the region to train Haitians for jobs in the hospitality industry.
-Irish tax refund company Taxback.com will open a call center in Haiti to provide clients with tax documentation help. The project is expected to create about two dozen new jobs.
SOURCE: United Nations, Reuters (Writing by Jim Loney, additional reporting by Joseph Guyler Delva, editing by Jane Sutton)