Bellerive confirmed as new prime minister

(12 Nov 2009) SHOTLIST 1. Wide exterior of Presidential Palace 2. Various of traffic and people in front of Palace gates 3. Interior of new Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and his predecessor Michele Pierre-Louis walking into ceremony 4. Pierre-Louis, Bellerive and Haitian President Rene Preval sitting at front of ceremony 5. Wide of Ceremony 6. SOUNDBITE (French) Jean-Max Bellerive, Haitian Prime Minister: "I would like to first of all express my gratitude to the President for the confidence that he has placed in me. Trust has been given to me to direct the government as well as to the gathering of the team members summoned to assist me in the management of public affairs." 7. Mid of audience applauding 8. Bellerive shaking hands with officials STORYLINE Haiti's new prime minister was inaugurated on Wednesday and promised to attract more investment and create jobs, while forging good relations with lawmakers who have ousted two heads of government in as many years. Jean-Max Bellerive, the sixth person to hold the post since 2004 in the politically unstable Caribbean nation, said he will work closely with lawmakers in Haiti's Parliament, who recently fired his predecessor in part for sticking too closely to international development plans. 51-year-old Bellerive officially took power as Haiti's No. 2 during Wednesday's ceremonies. He has served in a wide variety of Haitian administrations, including those of former populist President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the military junta that once ousted Aristide. Bellerive was sworn in by President Rene Preval, who praised an orderly transition that took little more than 12 days from the ouster of one prime minister to the swearing-in of her replacement. "I would like to first of all express my gratitude to the President for the confidence that he has placed in me," said the newly inaugurated Bellerive. That is a sharp contrast from last year, when Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis was fired after a week of violent food riots that left at least seven dead. Months of political deadlock followed before Pierre-Louis took power in the midst of hurricanes whose destruction laid out the most immediate challenges for her administration. International focus on Haiti shifted early this year to increasing foreign investment, an effort spearheaded by former US President Bill Clinton, who was named UN Special Envoy to the country where 80 percent of people live on less than two US dollars a day. During the 30 October debate that ended with the firing of Pierre-Louis, lawmakers accused her of unimaginatively following international development plans, which focus largely on improving infrastructure and building up a garment assembly sector to produce goods for the US market under a preferential trade deal. But Bellerive said on Wednesday he intends to see those plans through and, in fact, speed some investment deals along by continuing in his previous role as minister of planning and external cooperation. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/81909f23d0425c5f5d0a3f124ba9c39a Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork