U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday officially named former U.S. President Bill Clinton as special envoy to Haiti, CNN reported.
The position calls for Clinton to work to create jobs and access to basic services for the people of Haiti.
"All I want to do is help the Haitians take over control of their own destiny," Clinton said.
The U.N. Office for the Special Envoy for Haiti said unemployment reaches 70 percent nationally and 78 percent of Haitians live on less than $2 a day. Even though Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Ban said he believes that it "is at a turning point. It has a real chance for stability and potential prosperity."
Clinton will be working from a plan that was created by the Haitian government. "They produced, I thought, a very impressive program called 'Haiti: A New Paradigm,' and we intend to follow that," he said.
Clinton said his new job has four major goals: to support the Haitian government in implementing its program; to assist in the recovery effort with the same fervor as was shown toward countries affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004; to encourage more international private sector investments; and to encourage donors who have promised money for Haiti to honor their commitments.