WASHINGTON, DC, United States (CMC) — The United States Department of State says Secretary of State Antony J Blinken was in Haiti Thursday to hold crucial talks and will today travel to the neighbouring Dominican Republic.

According to State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller, Blinken was scheduled to meet with Haiti Transitional Presidential Council Coordinator Edgard Leblanc Fils and Prime Minister Garry Conille “to discuss forthcoming steps in Haiti’s democratic transition and US support to the Haitian people through humanitarian assistance and Haitian-led stabilisation efforts”.

Miller said Blinken was also expected to meet with the leadership of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, “emphasising US support to reestablish security in Haiti while also underscoring the significance of promoting respect for human rights”.

Blinken will then continue to the neighbouring Dominican Republic to meet with President Luis Abinader.

In Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic capital, Blinken and President Abinader will “reinforce our close and long-standing partnership, and discuss collaboration to advance inclusive economic growth, champion human rights, and promote good governance, security, and climate resilience in the region, including through the US-Caribbean Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis (PACC 2030) and Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI)”.

In a special briefing with reporters on Wednesday, US Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian A Nichols said Blinken will reaffirm the United States commitment to supporting the Haitian people and fostering a secure and peaceful Haiti.

“The secretary, Prime Minister Conille and the Transitional Presidential Council will also discuss Haiti’s return to a democratic path and the urgent need for elections, so the Haitian people can determine their own future,” he said. “We have seen Haiti take important steps forward in the last few months,” he added.

“In addition to the Transitional Presidential Council’s appointment of the prime minister and designation of ministers of his Cabinet, we have seen tangible signs of progress on the ground, including the opening of the airport and resumption of commercial flights, increased economic activity and movement in pockets of Port-au-Prince, and the deployment of the UN-authorised, Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support mission, which is working in close partnership with the Haitian National Police,” Nichols added.

With increased international support for both the MSS and the Haitian National Police, he said the United States is seeing “a dramatic increase in patrols and operations designed to restore security and a sense of normalcy in Haiti”.

While in Haiti, Nichols said, Secretary Blinken will meet with the head of the MSS and the Haitian National Police, “and underscore the United States continued commitment to their success.

“We will also discuss Haiti’s broader stabilisation, development and humanitarian needs,” Nichols said.

In meeting with the Dominican Republic president, he said Blinken will “reaffirm our strong, multidimensional partnership and discuss three main priorities: strengthening our economic ties, including through the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity; advancing our shared values of freedom, democracy, and respect for human and labour rights; and promoting increased security in the region, particularly in Haiti”.

Nichols said Blinken and President Abinader will also discuss The 2025 Summit of the Americas, which the Dominican Republic will host.

“In Haiti, our goal is to recognise the positive progress made towards improving security and encourage efforts to appoint the provisional electoral council, so Haiti can move toward elections,” Nichols said. “In the Dominican Republic, we will reinforce our shared priorities, such as promoting democratic governance, supporting free and fair elections in the region, and fighting corruption.

“This is a crucial moment in Haiti, and I think when we had the opportunity to go to Haiti with Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield to see sort of the beginning of the deployment of the MSS, to see the equipment that’s on the ground, to see that base, and now that more than 30 MRAPs [Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected armoured vehicles] have been delivered, other equipment, the increased rhythm of operations, we’re seeing that forward movement on the security side that we’ve long waited for,” he added.

“But we also need to see progress on the political side, and engaging the Transitional Presidential Council, the prime minister and Haiti’s political parties is a priority for the secretary to make sure that progress towards elections moves forward,” continued Nichols, stating that the Biden Administration’s goal is to have a mission in Haiti that is “effective, strong, able to deliver the kind of security progress that the Haitian people deserve, and we’re working with our international partners to do that , and setting up a structure that ensures a reliable source of financing and staffing for that mission is a priority.”

Nichols disclosed that the United States has provided, through the Department of Defense, US$200 million for the construction and operation of the logistics support area, the base where the MSS is located.

He said the US has also, through the Department of State, provided over US$50 million in equipment and support for the operations of the MSS “in different ways on the ground”.

Nichols said that US aid to Haiti also includes more than US$60 million in “drawdown authority” for support to the MSS, explaining that “drawdown authority is the ability to take things out of government stocks and provide them to the MSS, and we’ve provided all sorts of things — radios, tents, computers, night vision devices.”

The US assistant secretary of state said the United States, Canada and a few other donors have made “important contributions to the MSS UN trust fund to support these efforts”.

But he urged the rest of the international community to step forward with much more significant financial contributions, so that the force can continue to operate, and that additional nations can deploy their units as part of the MSS.

“The prime minister is rightly concerned about the future, but I think we have come quite a long way since the beginning of the year,” Nichols said.

Regarding corruption allegations involving members of the Transitional Presidential Council in Haiti, he said the United States “certainly believes that Haitian authorities should investigate those and determine the substance of what happened, and take appropriate actions to hold anyone who’s responsible for corrupt acts accountable.

“The Haitian people deserve transparency and good governance, and the international community, which provides so much assistance, also needs to see that to have the confidence that funds that flow through the Haitian Government are used appropriately and transparently,” Nichols stressed.