From 22 to 25 May 2010 German Development Minister Dirk Niebel visited Haiti and the Dominican Republic in order to see for himself how German and international aid is being implemented there. During his visit he expressed to the Haitian government the deep sympathy and condolences of the German government and the German people for the unimaginable destruction and inconceivable suffering that the people of Haiti have experienced.
German Development Minister Niebel said, "Given that the rainy season is now starting, with the hurricane season soon to begin, it is urgently necessary that international commitments for assistance are implemented quickly. It is important that the international Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) headed by the Haitian government starts quickly with the coordination of the international reconstruction assistance. Efficiency, transparency and accountability with regard to the use of the funds are crucially important here. I am convinced that the only way for Haiti's reconstruction to be successful is if there is political participation by a strong civil society and support and ownership from the heart of society."
Following the devastating earthquake on 12 January 2010, on 31 March 2010 in New York the international donor community put together an exceptional aid package for Haiti worth 9.8 billion US dollars. In Leogane, a community where eighty per cent of the buildings were destroyed in the quake, German Development Minister Dirk Niebel officially handed over the first of 1,300 basic houses built with German funds, which will be used to provide emergency shelter for about 7,000 people. He also visited aid projects being supported by German civil society and church-based organisations (Kindernothilfe, German Red Cross, Caritas, SOS Kinderdorf) and pledged 1.3 million euros for the expansion of a school and a clinic at the SOS Kinderdorf.
In the neighbouring Dominican Republic, Development Minister Dirk Niebel acknowledged over 25 years of successful cooperation and also thanked the authorities for their quick and uncomplicated support for German emergency assistance for Haiti. "Without that support it would not have been possible for German aid to reach the victims of the earthquake so quickly and efficiently," said Niebel. In the initial weeks the German assistance was mainly delivered via the Dominican Republic, which itself pledged 50 million US dollars at the reconstruction conference in New York in March.
Federal Minister Niebel also announced that the mutually rewarding cooperation between the Dominican Republic and Germany in the field of climate and environmental protection will be continued and discussed in the meetings that he held possibilities for other cooperation projects which could be used to jointly support Haiti's reconstruction. Before he made the announcement, Niebel had visited an ongoing cooperation project for the protection and sustainable use of watersheds on the Dominican-Haitian border. The experience gained from this community-based environmental protection project in the Dominican Republic is to be transferred to the communities on the Haitian side of the border.