Rev. C. B. Moss Urges Investments In Haiti

Rev. C. B. Moss (Journal file photo)

"Many of these opportunities may not bear fruit within the immediate future, but certainly in the intermediate and long-term future it would be very profitable."

In January, Rev. Moss led a trade delegation from the Bahamas to Haiti. Individuals from Florida were also a part of the delegation.

"The actual strong economic connection is Haiti, Florida, the Bahamas, or vice-versa, in any direction, but that’s the triangle," he said.

Rev Moss – a former Progressive Liberal Party senator and an unsuccessful independent candidate in the 2007 general election – announced plans to attend an upcoming trade and investment forum in Haiti.

The forum will be held on November 15to 16.

It’s being sponsored by the government of Haiti, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), with the financial support of the government of Canada.

Earlier this month, Bahamas Chamber of Commerce President Dionisio D’Aguilar insisted that Haiti is poised for economic development and a rebirth and that the time is ripe to seize some real opportunities there.

Mr. D’Aguilar; Bahamas Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Philip Simon and Bahamas Ambassador to Haiti Dr. Eugene Newry were among those who went on a four-day trade mission to Haiti recently.

It was aimed at dispelling the myth that Haiti is an unsafe place to do business.

The focus was also on exploring avenues for developing trade agreements between Haiti and the Bahamas in agriculture, poultry, telecommunications, construction, souvenir, craft making and other areas of commerce.

According to Rev. Moss, if Bahamians were to rejuvenate Haiti’s economy through new trade opportunities, it could help to stem to flow of illegal immigrants to this country.

He pointed out that the Bahamas may have missed out on an opportunity to become involved in the cell phone consumer business in Haiti, now being dominated by DigiCell.

"In two years they have amassed a total of 1.5 million customers in Haiti and it is projected that in five years they will have five million customers. I am saying perhaps that is a missed opportunity for BTC; I don’t know," Rev. Moss said.

He told Rotarians that local experts in the tourism and financial services industries should be traveling to Haiti to provide services.

"Their financial industry is almost non-existent. We should be going in there with our financial products," Rev. Moss said.

And, while he believes there is much to be gained in Haiti, he pointed to a few pitfalls, relative to the security and stability of the country.

"Other challenges include the fact that their production and distribution systems are not up and running. There are no established trade channels in terms of transportation, air freight or sea freight," Rev. Moss said.

"But I am saying the Bahamas must get in there first. We are lagging behind many other countries."