The Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Haiti Special Coordinator, Kenneth Merten is visiting the country. The announcement was made by the US Embassy. The Embassy says he is visiting to make advances in the forming of alliances in the Western Hemisphere for regional economic stability.
The US Embassy says he will meet with senior government officers and civil society groups to discuss trade, cooperation for strengthening of institutions and security, and joint development of the Dominican Republic and Haiti border areas. In Haiti, Merten will meet with international donors, senior government officers, and private sector leaders.
Merten was appointed to the position on 20 January 2017 at the start of the Trump administration. He has been serving in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs since August 17, 2015. As the Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, he has responsibility for Haiti, Canada, Caribbean Affairs and the Office of Policy, Planning and Coordination in the same bureau.
A two-time Ambassador, he was the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Croatia, from 2012 to August 2015, and prior to that served as the United States Ambassador to Haiti from 2009 to July 2012. He also served as a Deputy Executive Secretary to US Secretary of State Clinton and earlier to US Secretary of State Rice. He was awarded the 2011 Ryan C. Crocker Award for Outstanding Leadership in Expeditionary Diplomacy for his extraordinary leadership in the wake of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
In serving as Ambassador to Haiti, Merten oversaw the United States Government’s on-the-ground efforts to provide immediate relief after the 2010 earthquake through a presence of 8,000 US military personnel as well as hundreds of other professionals drawn from many other US Government agencies.
