The international community now has a shared vision for the rebuilding of Haiti, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon.
A one-day conference on Haiti鈥檚 long-term recovery, attended by foreign ministers of more than a dozen countries, aid groups, World Bank officials and Haitian officials, wrapped up in Montreal Monday afternoon.
Cannon said the conference led to a declaration for the principles of Haiti鈥檚 recovery, including co-ordination, sustainability, effectiveness and accountability.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it is of the utmost importance that aid efforts are co-ordinated with Haiti.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important that we see ourselves as partners with Haiti and not patrons,鈥� that we work intensely together to produce results,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e intend to support the government so this is clearly a Haitian-led effort.鈥�
A large UN conference on Haiti鈥檚 recovery will be held in March.
A decade to rebuild
It will take a decade for the world to help rebuild Haiti, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in Montreal where international leaders had gathered to plan out post-earthquake reconstruction.
After expressing condolences to Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and holding a minute's silence for the victims, Harper stressed that money pledged by the international community should be spent properly.
"It is not an exaggeration to say that 10 years of hard work awaits the world in Haiti," Harper told the Ministerial Preparatory Conference of the Group of Friends of Haiti.
He said aid for the victims has been pouring in from both governments and citizens, and the challenge now is making the best use of that aid.
"This generosity, both public and private is a testament to the kindness and compassion that unites humanity in the face of catastrophe," he said.
"The difficulty we face then, is not one of concern, but rather one of co-ordination. We must ensure that every resource committed -- every relief worker, every vehicle, every dollar -- is used as effectively as possible."
Earlier, Bellerive said his country simply can't go back to the way it was before.
"What we are speaking about is re-launching our country on a path of development. It is not a question of going back to the status quo," Bellerive told the meeting.
He said the capital, Port-au-Prince, would have to be entirely rebuilt and public institutions decentralized to meet the needs of the hundreds of thousands of Haitians expected to relocate to rural areas.
But Bellerive said with the help of international partners, Haiti can emerge from one of its worst humanitarian disasters.
"That's the main reason that I'm here. I'm convinced that it's possible to rebuild Haiti," Bellerive told CTV's Canada AM from Montreal.
"We were hit, we were hit badly, but we still stand....we have a real vision of what we need to do and I believe that we paid a high price to understand that the authority of the state is important for the future. So I have very big expectations that we can meet an agreement with our partners for the long-term and that we can rebuild Haiti."
Bank institutions monitoring conference
Government officials from around the world, as well as representatives from the UN, the World Bank and a number of non-governmental organizations and other groups, attended Monday's six-hour meeting.
The conference has two objectives: to hear from representatives on the ground about how, and how much, aid is being distributed through earthquake-ravaged cities and towns; and to establish a road map for long-term reconstruction.
Cannon, the host of the conference, says a full-blown international conference on Haiti's long-term reconstruction needs would be held in the coming months.
Cannon says say while international partners are key to laying the framework for ongoing aid, the Haitian government must take the lead in carrying out its own long-term reconstruction efforts.
"In the statement of principle that we want to be able to put forward, we want to make sure that everybody recognizes Haiti's sovereignty," Cannon told Canada AM Monday morning from Montreal, "and therefore, the importance for it being part and parcel of the decision-making process and ending up by making, eventually, these decisions."
Susan Johnson, director general of international operations for the Canadian Red Cross, said the Haitian government's role in reconstruction should be one of the principles that emerges from the meeting.
"It's absolutely important. In fact that has to be one of the principles, that the Haitian government and Haitian organizations have to be in the lead," Johnson said Monday on Canada AM.
"I think we all know, and the Haitian government itself knows, that the Haitian government needs help to take up that role effectively and needs help from friends like the government of Canada and other governments to take charge and pull in the right kinds of resources."
Robert Fox, Oxfam Canada鈥檚 executive director, said development efforts need to help Haiti avoid its past problems.
鈥淚f we go back to building a country that existed two weeks ago, this is a failure,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is about building a brand new Haiti.鈥�
Cannon admitted that Monday's meeting will not answer difficult questions, such as how much Haiti's reconstruction is expected to cost and who will foot the bill. But it will prepare the international community for future meetings where governments will be expected to make firm commitments.
One item on the agenda will likely be debt relief, Hamamdjian said. Haiti's international debt is about $1 billion.
Cannon said that last year, Haiti's $2.3-million debt to Canada was forgiven, and said he hopes "that other countries will be able to step up to the plate in the future and do likewise. So that I think is something that we can all commit to."
With a report from CTV鈥檚 Genevieve Beauchemin
