SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, good afternoon, everyone. It's a great pleasure to be in Haiti and to have met with President Leblanc, the president of the Transitional Presidential Council. I think this is a moment of great challenge but also a moment of hope for Haiti, and we'll talk a little bit more about that later.
But we've seen the presidential council be stood up, the government, the prime minister stood up, the arrival of Kenyan colleagues to support the police in this critical security mission. We're starting to see results from that, all with the objective of putting Haiti on a path to elections next year, but also to creating a secure environment not only for the elections but to making sure that services can be delivered to the Haitian people who so desperately need it, that development can move forward, and life can return to greater normalcy.
So we had an opportunity to talk about the very important work of the Transitional Presidential Council, as well as the work of the government. A critical next step that we spoke about is setting up a electoral council. And the president gave me an update on the important work that's being done there, and we hope to see that stood up soon, because that's a critical next step in moving forward in organizing elections for next year.
But in all of this, the work of the council, the work of all of the actors in Haiti - it's critical. Their cooperation, their coordination, their collaboration is essential.
(In French.) (Via interpreter.) Mr. President, thank you very much. We are happy to see the work that is being done for the Haitian people and for progress.
MR LEBLANC: (Via interpreter.) It was a pleasure, Mr. Secretary. Our discussion was very open and frank on the progress realized in terms of security, and of the preparation for next elections that should occur by the end of next year in order to respect the timeline established, and for the democratic election of the new government that will be in place in 2026.
There has been progress, but there is still a lot to do, especially to help reinforce capacities of the national police and the Haitian armed forces, to reduce the problem of security, and allow for the electoral process to take place normally.
Next week, at the next ministers council, we are going to present the composition of the electoral council. And they will start to work to reassure the Haitian population concerning the process, and by the end of 2025 the steering committee on the national conference will have worked on the report - on the reform of the constitution. The CP will base itself on the changes realized in this reform to organize the elections. Once the new constitution is in place, the process will be in place so that we can have elections in November.
As we said to Mr. Secretary, a lot has been done, and more will done so that the issue of security will be resolved, so that elections can take place securely throughout the country. Thank you.
