Haiti businessmen and government officers were open to work together with the Dominican Republic on a project that seeks to foster development in Haiti. The DR will benefit from a reduction in migration and an increase in purchasing power in Haiti for Dominican produce. Haiti will benefit from increased investment in infrastructure and services, and job creation in Haiti. Luis Heredia Bonetti, of Russin, Vecchi & Heredia Bonetti law firm, head the Dominican delegation to Haiti to discuss the support of the Haitian community to the plan. The proposal is to lobby before the US government so that the latter may authorize that the Dominican Republic create the Hispaniola Fund. The fund would be made up by payments toward the Dominican foreign debt now being made to the US, about US$100 million a year and would allow the money to instead be invested in projects in Haiti and along the frontier with Haiti. The Minister of Commerce and Industry Gerald Germain said that the Haitian private sector agreed to express its support to the project to the new authorities starting 7 February. The total debt conversion program would be for US$780.9 million. Present at the meeting were Haitian businessmen Felipe Amaro, president of the Dominican Haitian Foundation, businessmen Max Antoine, Maurice La Fortune and Patrice Baker of the Haitian Chamber of Commerce. For the DR, Luis Heredia Bonetti, Miguel Núñez, of the Dominican embassy in Haiti, Ramon Martinez Aponte, Ellis Perez, Frederic Emam Zade and Hugo Ramirez. They also met with the vice president of the Haiti Chamber of Commerce Maurice La Fortune and president of the Association of Tourism of Haiti, Dominique Carvonis.
