In compensation, as it were, for his canceled meeting with President Hipolito Mejia on the Haiti-DR border, the President of Haiti met with former President Leonel Fernandez in his office in Port-au-Prince. President Rene Preval received Fernandez during the latter,s visit to the Haitian capital for a speaking engagement. Fernandez addressed the conference titled "Regional and International Competitiveness: Strategies and Opportunities, sponsored jointly by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Haitian Center for Free Enterprise and Democracy. Preval told Fernandez that "at least 30% of the drugs that find their way to the U.S. and Europe pass through [Haitian] territory, adding "we do not have the resources to confront the problem. Preval also told Fernandez that whatever might b the result of Haiti,s presidential elections, relations between the neighboring nations will continue to improve. Fernandez will meet today with former President, and current candidate, Jean Bertrande Aristide, in his Port-au-Prince residence today.
