Reply #46: Least developed countries: Furious networking brings results

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/may/12/least-developed-countries-business-networking

Gregor Avril, from Haiti, was dubious about attending the UN conference for least developed countries (LDCs) in Istanbul this week. The executive director of Haiti's association of industries had been invited by the UN Global Compact, the UN's voluntary corporate responsibility initiative that is reaching out to the private sector, to take part in the trade fair that forms the private sector track of the conference on LDCs. There are also civil society, government and parliamentary tracks.

Avril, with hundreds of other business representatives, has been networking furiously – mostly with Turkish businesses it has to be said – in the bowels of one of the conference buildings, while government officials make worthy speeches in the plenary sessions above.

Sitting at his booth at a small desk displaying coffee, pasta, snacks and – pride of place – bottles of Barbancourt rum, described as the "cognac of rums", Avril said the conference was much better than he had expected. He is a regular on the trade show circuit in the US, but he said he didn't know why he was invited to Istanbul.

"This was totally unknown to me. I didn't know the nature of the show and I was sceptical," said Avril, reaching into a cardboard box full of business cards. "But interest in Haiti has been much more intense than I had expected." He said several Turkish Cameroonian and Bangladeshi businesses have asked him for information about manufacturing companies in Haiti. "I have promised them information, trying to do some matchmaking and give people details about a particular sector they are interested in." The interest has come mainly from importers and exporters, with some companies interested in distributing Haitian rum. One was interested in extracting granite for processing outside of Haiti.