The Republic of Haiti occupies the western one third of the second largest island of the Antilles. Two mountain chains, bordering the northern and southern parts of the island nation, make up almost 80% of the land surface. The temperature varies between 160 C in the mountainous regions to 360 C at sea level.

Agriculture is the nation's primary economic sector using up 30% of the land surface area and the majority of the population. Thirty seven percent of the population is concentrated in the major towns and cities throughout the nine departments, primarily in the capital city of Port-au-Prince and its surroundings.

Although French is the official language of Haiti, Creole is spoken by 100% of the population and English is widely used in the business community.

The Haitian economy is concentrated on two industries: agriculture and manufacturing. Recently, there has been an increase in interest and developments in the tourism sector as evidenced by the investments made by the International Hilton Group. Moreover, in the last twenty years, we have seen significant growths in the banking and communications industries branching out throughout the countryside and investing in state of the art technology.

Haiti's strategic geography, central to the United States, Central and South America, and the Caribbean (CARICOM) has lead the Haitian government to open and integrate its markets to the region by encouraging private sector investments through tax incentives and new, progressive investment codes, especially in the areas of export manufacturing, agriculture, tourism, and artisan products.

These investment codes encourage the establishment of manufacturing free zones, such as the bi-national venture between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which is located in the northeastern frontier area known as Ouanaminthe and expected to be operational in 2003.

The Haitian government has invested in technical studies and proposals to build and rehabilitate the supporting infrastructure to the export manufacturing industry, such as rebuilding the international and national airports (to be completed by January 2004), extensions of the road network and maintenance programs and expansions of the electrical power and communications.