By VOA News
19 May 2009
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has named former U.S. President Bill Clinton as his special envoy to Haiti.
The secretary-general said Tuesday he is confident that Mr. Clinton will bring energy, dynamism and focus to the task of mobilizing international support for Haiti's economic recovery and reconstruction.
A statement issued through Mr. Clinton's foundation quotes Mr. Ban as saying he had discussed the appointment with Haiti's president, René Preval, and that the Haitian leader welcomed it on behalf of the Haitian government and people.
Mr. Clinton said it is an honor to accept the secretary-general's invitation to become special envoy to Haiti. The two men visited Haiti in March to refocus international attention on restoring economic security to the Caribbean country, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.
Haiti is struggling to recover from four successive storms last year that killed hundreds of people and wiped out about 15 percent of its economic output.
In April, Haiti received $324 million in new aid commitments from international donors for the next two years.
The Inter-American Development Bank announced the pledges after hosting a donors' conference for Haiti in Washington. The bank said the money pledged includes $41 million in budget support for 2009.
As the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, Mr. Clinton will travel to that country several times within the next year. The post carries an annual salary of $1.
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