The Organizing Committee of the Annual Dominican Week in the US took advantage of the visit of US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to deliver a letter requesting her support in the Senate for the Hispaniola Investment Fund. The idea is to convert the foreign debt of the Dominican Republic with the U.S. Government into investments in Haiti and the Haitian-Dominican border zone. The proposed debt conversion program is seen as beneficial to all three countries, the US, Haiti and the DR through debt equity swaps and debt-for-nature (?) swaps. The US will benefit because it will exchange a sovereign foreign debt for corporate preferential shares with tangible assets, backed by private sector investments. This provides the US Treasury with better guarantees, lower risks and higher returns. Haiti will benefit because it would receive fresh funds, at a lower cost than other alternatives, for much needed and highly profitable projects. This would promote economic growth and development in Haiti. The DR benefits because Haitian economic development lessens their population’s pressure to migrate to the Dominican Republic. Prosperity in Haiti is also seen as increasing the purchasing power of Haitians to buy Dominican products.
