Clintons urge foreign investment in Haiti

CARACOL, Haiti (AP) — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is urging people outside of Haiti to invest in that country.

She and her husband Bill led a high-profile delegation that gathered Monday in Haiti to inaugurate a new industrial park. It’s at the center of U.S. efforts to help Haiti rebuild from the 2010 earthquake.

Thousands of Haitians lined the roadway to wave at Clinton’s motorcade as it made its way from a newly renovated airport.

The secretary of state told investors at a luncheon that bringing prosperity to Haiti involves more than just providing aid — it requires investments in the country’s infrastructure and its economy.

Other luminaries who were on hand for the event included actors Sean Penn and Ben Stiller, fashion designer Donna Karan and British business magnate Richard Branson.

The park is projected to create thousands of jobs. It’s located more than 100 miles from the quake-ravaged capital of Port-au-Prince.

But some Haitians say it only copies failed efforts from the past, and that it will benefit outsiders more than Haitians — while harming some of the few areas of undamaged environment that still exist in Haiti.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.