Haiti-New Orleans Heritage Task Force Newsletter, December 2012 in English

Haiti-New Orleans Heritage Task Force 1 December 2012

Haiti-New Orleans Heritage Task Force Newsletter, December, 2012

Highlights National Port Authority enters into Sister Port Agreements, moves forward with Missions to Port-au-Prince by Louisiana Ports and Mississippi De-partment of Economic Development, and enters into MOU for Law Enforcement Technical Assis-tance with National Sheriffs’ Association PACEGI enters into MOUS for Artwork Exhibi-tion with Amistad Research Center, Food Security with LSU College of Agriculture and Historic Archi-tectural Preservation Project in Jacmel Mandate for Haiti-New Orleans Heritage Task Force Recognized by New Orleans Mayor and Hai-tian Agencies Government of Haiti and Ochsner Health Sys-tems Commence Medical Teaching Partnership GOH Delegation Attends C/CAA Conference in New Orleans, Joins New Orleans Mayor and Insti-tutions in Recognizing Task Force Representatives of Haiti’s Ministry of Energy Secu-rity (MOES), Presidential Advisory Commission of Economic Growth & Investment (PACEGI), Center to Facilitate Investments (CFI), and National Port Authority (APN) attended the Caribbean/Central

American Action (C/CAA) Conference in New Orleans during the last week of November. In addition to establishing contacts and discussing matters of mutual interest with their counterparts from other Caribbean nations, Government of Haiti representatives reached substantive understandings on a variety of trade, food security, port security and cultural initiatives.

“General Toussaint l’Ouverture” by Jacob Lawrence


In addition, GOH Representatives joined the Office of the Mayor of the City of New Orleans and leading New Orleans institutions in issuing a Mandate Recognizing the Haiti-New Orleans Heritage Task Force (“Task Force”). The Task Force was initially formed due to joint leadership by the Office of the Prime Minister, the Office of the Mayor of New Orleans, and Tulane Uni-versity Payson Center, and grew with the joinder by Amistad Research Center, APN, Louisiana State University College of Agriculture, Ochsner Health Systems, World Trade Center of New Orleans, and Xavier University of Louisiana. The Mandate recognizes the Task Force as an institutional vehicle supporting the missions of PACEGI, the Office of the Prime Minister, and the Center for Investment Facilitation (CFI), in coordination with the Clinton Foundation and other international institutions. The GOH Delegation was led by Dr. Rene Jean-Jumeau, Minister-Delegate of Energy Security and Dean of the Delegation. The Delegation was co-led by Georges Andy Rene, Executive Sec-retary of PACEGI and Executive Director of the CFI, and Alix Celestin, Director General of APN. APN Signs “Sister Port” Agreement with Port of New Orleans APN Director General Alix Celestin and Port of New Orleans Chair, Ms. Valerie S. Cahill and President & CEO Gary LaGrange affirmed their intent to work together as “sister ports”.

APN and Port of St. Bernard Plan Mission to Port of Port-au-Prince Port of St. Bernard Executive Director Robert J. Scafidel and APN Director General Alix Celestin followed up on prior discussions regarding exchange of information on port operations, port

Left to Right: Valerie S. Cahill, Chair, Port of New Orleans; Gary LaGrange, President & CEO, Port of New Orleans; Alix Celestin, APN Director General; and Jean Renet Latortue, APN Direc-tor of Operations.


security and related matters, and jointly planned a follow-up port mission to Port-au-Prince in early 2013. APN Signs “Sister Port” Agreement with Port of South Louisiana APN Director General Alix Celestin and Port of South Louisiana President, Joey Murray affirmed their in-tent to work together as “sister ports”. APN and Mississippi State Port Authority at Gulfport Firm Up Reverse Trade Mis-sion to Port-au-Prince in March Van Grundmann, Chief Commercial Officer at the Mississippi State Port Authority – Gulfport, and APN Director General Alix Celestin followed up on prior discussions regarding strategic relations between the Port of Gulfport and APN, and confirmed plans for a Trade Mission to Port-au-Prince in the Spring of 2013, led by the Mississippi Department of Economic Develop-ment. APN Signs Memorandum of Understanding with National Sheriffs’ Association for Law En-forcement Technical Assistance to Enhance Port Security

Left to Right: APN Director General Alix Celestin; APN Director of Operations Jean Renet Latortue; and Port of South Louisiana President Joey Murray.

Left to Right: APN Direc-tor General Alix Celestin; National Sheriffs’ Associ-ation President Sheriff Larry Amerson, Calhoun County, Alabama; Pega-sus Advisory Board Chair-man and National Sher-iffs’ Association Past President, Sheriff Tommy Ferrell, Adams County, MS (Ret.); and PACEGI Director of Economic Growth, Vladimir La-borde.


APN Director General Alix Celestin signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Sheriff Larry Amerson, Sheriff of Calhoun County, Alabama and President of the National Sheriff’s Associa-tion, and Sheriff Tommy Ferrell (Ret.), Past President of the National Sheriffs’ Association and Chairman of the Pegasus Advisory Board. The MOU maps out a plan for technical assistance

and transfer of knowledge to APN by the National Sheriffs’ Association, to en-hance port security. CFI and Haiti-New Orleans Heritage Task Force Enter Into Memorandum of Un-derstanding with LSU College of Agricul-ture CFI Executive Director Andy Rene and representatives of the LSU College of Ag-riculture and the Task Force pushed for-ward with plans for enhancing food se-curity in Haiti during the C/CAA Confer-ence in New Orleans.

Mandate for Haiti-New Orleans Heritage Task Force Recognized by Office of Mayor of City of New Orleans and Haitian Government Entities The Office of the Mayor of New Orleans, MOES, PACEGI, and APN entered into a Mandate with the Haiti-New Orleans Heritage Task Force, recognizing the Task Force as an institutional vehi-cle supporting the missions of PACEGI, the Office of the Prime Minister, and the Center for In-

Left to right, Dr. Hector Zapata, LSU College of Ag-riculture; Dennis Kelly, Haiti-New Orleans Heritage Task Force; Georges Andy Rene, Executive Direc-tor, CFI; and Dr. Kenneth Koonce, Dean, LSU Col-lege of Agriculture.

Left to Right: John Williams, AIA; Brooke E. Smith, Office of the Mayor of the City of New Orle-ans; Alix Celestin, Director General, APN; Rene Jean-Jumeau, Ph.D., Minister-Delegate, Ministry of Energy Security; Georges Andy Rene, Executive Secretary, PACEGI; Vladimir Laborde, PACE-GI; Anthony Arango, PACEGI; Bill Bertrand, Ph.D., Tulane Payson Center; Dennis Kelly, Task Force Secretary; Katie Kelly, Task Force Intern.


vestment Facilitation (CFI), in coordination with the Clinton Foundation and other internation-al institutions. Amistad Research Center and Haitian Agencies Enter Into MOU Regarding Discussions In-tended to Lead to Exhibition of Toussaint l’Ouverture Artwork in Haiti The Amistad Research Center and PACEGI entered into a MOU aimed at leading to the exhibit of Amistad-owned artwork by an appropriate Museum or educational institution in Haiti.

Amistad is a world class research center located in New Orleans, whose art collection includes Jacob Lawrence’s Toussaint l’Ouverture Series and “Funeral Procession” by Ellis Wilson. PACEGI enters into MOU Regarding Historic Architectural Preservation Project in Jacmel

Left to Right: Lee Hampton, Executive Director, Amistad Research Center; Lucius Gregg and Dr. Lance Query, Board of Directors, Amistad Research Center; Dr. Andrea Jefferson, Chairla-dy of Board of Directors, Amistad Research Center; Alix Celestin, Director General, APN; Rene Jean-Jumeau, Ph.D., Minister-Delegate, Ministry of Energy Security; Georges Andy Rene, Ex-ecutive Secretary, PACEGI; Vladimir Laborde, PACEGI; Anthony Arango, PACEGI.

Left to right: Brooke E. Smith, Office of the Mayor of New Orleans; John Wil-liams, AIA, Wil-liams Architects; and Georges Andy Rene, PACEGI Ex-ecutive Secretary.


Georges Andy Rene, PACEGI Executive Secretary, entered into a MOU with Williams Architects of New Orleans, a leading historic architecture firm, anticipating a Historic Architectural Inven-tory and Preservation Project in Jacmel focused on preserving Jacmel’s architectural heritage.

__________________________ Government of Haiti and Ochsner Health Systems Commence Medical Teaching Partnership with Joint CFI/Ochsner Medical Teaching Mission In November, Ochsner Health Systems and the Government of Haiti began carrying out a Med-ical Teaching Partnership contemplated by an MOU entered into over the Summer. Under the MOU, Ochsner provided a team of medical doctors and a cadre of University of Queensland/Ochsner medical students who received coursework credit for providing medical services for Haitian patients. CFI provided transport and facilitated the delivery of medical services. One of the Ochsner participants felt that this initial medical teaching initiative “was an absolute-ly invaluable experience for the students and an immeasurable benefit for the people of Hai-ti. This undertaking forged a strong foundation for future activities for Ochsner's global mis-sion.” Dr. Yvens Laborde, Ochsner Team Lead, stated “The successful of outcome of this initial execu-tion of the MOU is strong indicator of the GOH commitment to partner with world class teach-ing institutions like Ochsner to enhance the health care delivery system in Haiti as the country continues to recover from the devastating effects of the 2010 Earthquake. This mutually bene-ficial relationship also affords Ochsner a unique opportunity to fulfill its mission to be a global leader in health care. This inaugural mission, which included four graduates of the Ochsner clinical school of the University of Queensland, Dr. Richard Vin Root and Dr. Yvens Laborde, has successfully laid the foundation for future activities and rotations in Haiti.”

CFI Executive Director, Georges Andy Rene, Ochsner Medical Direc-tor Yvens La-borde, MD, and Ochsner Health Systems physi-cians and Uni-versity of Queensland Medical Stu-dents at Com-mencement of November Joint CFI/Ochsner Medical Teach-ing Mission


Dr. Laborde went on to say that “It was an extremely productive and intense week from No-vember 19th to the 25th during which, with support of CFI and FONDYLSAAH on the ground, the team was able to treat patients as well as assess the many challenges with providing care in a developing country. The group was able to take part in activities at Centre De Sante Mombin Crochu, Ecole Polytechnic De Mayaya La Victoire, Universite De Notre Dame as well as Univer-site D'etat D'Haiti.” Dr. Laborde concluded that “It is our goal to make La Victoire a future site for a permanent FONDYLSAAH clinic to provide the community with excellent care in partnership with Ochsner Health Systems and the Government of Haiti, to advance Ochsner’s mission to serve, heal, ed-ucate and innovate on a global scale.”

“La sante' du peuple est la fondation sur laquelle repose tout le bonheur et toute la puissance de l'Etat.”

Benjamin Disraeli

University of Queens-land/Ochsner medical student examining a young patient during the Joint CFI/Ochsner Medi-cal Teaching Mission


About The Haiti-New Orleans Heritage Task Force The Haiti-New Orleans Heritage Task Force (“Task Force”) is a non-governmental task force of constituencies from Haiti and New Orleans. These organizations have come together un-der the leadership of New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, and in close collaboration with Haiti’s Presidential Advisory Council on Economic Growth & Investment (PACEGI) and Center for Investment Facilitation (“CFI”), to assist the Office of the Prime Minister, PACEGI and CFI in achieving their missions in areas as diverse as education, infrastructure, healthcare, ener-gy, shipping, tourism, agriculture and public safety. The work of the Task Force is rooted in the traditional heritage of people and culture and other ancient ties that bind South Louisiana and Haiti. Starting from that foundation, the Task Force is the product of the commitment of the individuals and institutions serving on it, each of whom brings relevant Subject Matter Expertise to the work of the Task Force, and each of whom has demonstrated a strong commitment to Haiti’s advancement in the con-text of current events—common bonds of disaster and recovery, and shared recognition of the potential within Haiti’s people. The principal institutional and policy vehicles for the work of the Task Force are to be found in PACEGI and in CFI, all in service of the Government of Haiti’s Decentralization Program, which has been accepted by PACEGI and CFI. To date, the Task Force has developed and brought opportunities to PACEGI, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the National Port Authority, the Minister of Energy Security, and CFI. Going forward, the Task Force will continue to serve as a focus for collaboration between the Government of Haiti and the Southeastern part of the U.S., in service to the people of Haiti. For additional information, please contact Dennis Kelly, Secretary, Haiti-New Orleans Herit-age Task Force, at [email protected].

Members of The Haiti-New Orleans Heritage Task Force

Georges Andy Rene, Task Force Chair, Direc-teur Exécutif du Presidential Advisory Council on Economic Growth & Investment, & Direc-teur Exécutif du Centre de Facilitation des Investissements William Bertrand, Ph.D., Task Force Co-Chair, Tulane Payson Center Alix Célestin, Directeur Général de l’Autorité Portuaire National de la République d’Haïti Scott Cowen, Ph.D., President, Université Tulane Colin Crawford, Esq., Ecole de Droit de l’Uni-versité Tulane Norman Francis, Ph.D., President, Xavier Uni-versity Dennis Kelly, Esq., Task Force Secretary, Pan Caribbean Consulting, Inc.

Eamon Kelly, Ph.D., Tulane Payson Center Dominik Knoll, World Trade Center-New Or-leans Vladimir Laborde, Director, Economic Growth, PACEGI & Member of Cabinet, CFI Yvens Laborde, MD, Ochsner Health System Mitchell J. Landrieu, Maire, Ville de la Nou-velle Orléans Ky Luu, JD, Tulane Disaster Resilience Leader-ship Academy Richard Morse, Bureau du Président de la République Brooke Smith, Bureau du Maire, Ville de la Nouvelle Orléans John C. Williams, AIA, Williams Architectts

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Haiti-New Orleans Heritage Task Force Newsletter, December 2012 in English