By: Caribbean World News Wednesday March 10,

President of the earthquake ravaged nation of Haiti, Rene Preval, yesterday insisted that the focus now should be not only on rebuilding Port-au-Prince, the country`s capital, but investing and to rebuilding in other provinces.

Preval made the comments in the Treaty Room of the U.S. State Department at a joint press conference with Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

`Today, we are faced with a historical situation that will allow us to rebuild, re-found this country,` he said. `In the past, everything had been concentrated and focused on the capital, where the political and economic elites of the country live, and the rest of the country was neglected,` said the President. `So this is an opportunity to not only rebuild Port-au-Prince, but first and foremost, to invest and to rebuild in the provinces. And of course, the recovery of Haiti will take a long time, and everybody must be aware of that. To rebuild Port-au-Prince as it was before would be a major historical mistake, and that is the message that I am trying to convey not only to the Haitians but also to my international partners.`

While thanking the U.S. and Americans for the outpouring of support shown in the aftermath of the January 12th quake, the Haitian President urged all donors and supporters to help Haiti work together to ensure the conditions that will allow for its recovery.

Preval also insisted that elections must be held soon to ensure the stability and legitimacy of the Haitian Government.

Secretary Clinton for her part revealed that `the United States would work with the international community to hold elections as soon as appropriate` in Haiti.

She also said that as they join in preparing for the major donors conference in New York on March 31st, the United States will be `listening very carefully to President Preval and the voices of the Haitian people as to what our next steps should be.`

`Mr. President, I want to assure you again that the United States and President Obama and our Administration remain committed to you,` she stated. `We believe in Haiti`s promise and we are committed to Haiti`s future.`