The global community on Wednesday pledged nearly $US10 billion ($A10.9 billion) for Haiti over more than three years to put the quake-ravaged nation back on its feet.
As part of the $US9.9 billion ($A10.79 billion) total, UN member states and international organisations participating in a donors' conference pledged $US5.3 billion ($A5.78 billion) for the 2010-2011 period, far exceeding the $US3.8 billion ($A4.14 billion) that was sought by conference organisers for that period.
That target was meant to fund a $US4 billion ($A4.36 billion) action plan put forward by the Haitian government to fund reconstruction projects over the next two years in the poorest country in the Americas.
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"The member states and international partners have pledged $US5.3 billion for the next two years and $US9.9 billion in total for the next three years and beyond," Ban told a press conference wrapping up the meeting.
"Friends of Haiti have acted far beyond expectations."
The aim of the meeting was to help the battered Caribbean country "build back better" after the 7.0-magnitude quake on January 12 levelled parts of its capital Port-au-Prince, killing at least 220,000 people and leaving 1.3 million homeless.
Call to empower Haitians
Wednesday's biggest contributions came from the United States and the 27-member European Union.
Several dignitaries emphasised the need to follow through on the pledges, which Ban said "will be published and tracked by a web-based system" established by the UN and Haiti.
"Reconstruction will be Haitian-led, inclusive, accountable, transparent, coordinated and results oriented," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the press conference.
"Aid has never saved a country. Our goal must be the empowerment of the Haitian people."
The US chief diplomat, co-hosting the conference with Ban, offered $US1.15 billion ($A1.25 billion), saying the funds would go towards supporting Haiti's plan "to strengthen agriculture, energy, health, and security and governance."
The EU meanwhile pledged an additional 1.6 billion dollars, with France offering to disburse 180 million euros ($A265.15 million) in 2010-2011 for food and the restoration of government authority.
Reconstruction work
"This is only the beginning," Catherine Ashton said in comments addressed to Haitian President Rene Preval.
"But I think everyone here is committed to supporting you to the end of the process."
Earlier, she told the meeting that EU contribution was on top of 295 million euros ($A434.56 million) already pledged, bringing total EU public and private contributions "close to three billion dollars."
Some 138 countries, international bodies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, non-governmental organisations and Haitian expatriates took part in the one-day conference.
Officials have estimated Haiti needs $US11.5 billion ($A12.54 billion) in aid for reconstruction over the next 10 years.
The World Bank said it would provide $US479 million ($A522.3 million) in aid through June 2011, of which $US250 million ($A272.6 million) was new funding.
UN stabilisation mission
Canada, a major provider of aid to Port-au-Prince, said it would also chip in with 400 million Canadian dollars.
Brazil, the main contributor of troops to the UN stabilisation mission in Haiti, pledged $US172 million ($A187.55 million), mainly for health projects, while Japan offered $US30 million ($A32.71 million) in addition to $US70 million ($A76.33 million) already announced.
Stressing the need not to repeat past errors in helping impoverished Haiti, Clinton appealed to the world to "do things differently" this time.
"We cannot retreat to failed strategies," she added. "We need Haiti to succeed."
Her husband, US special envoy to Haiti and former US president Bill Clinton meanwhile said that he and the Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive would lead an Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) tasked with overseeing the pledges.
Two year recovery plan
The IHRC, which will have an 18-month mandate, is meant to give the Haitian government "influence over how and where aid is spent and will ensure that the reconstruction is well coordinated" and addresses the needs of all Haitians.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick suggested a division of labour among international agencies to avoid "tripping over one another".
He also called for another meeting in six months' time, coinciding with the annual General Assembly session in September to assess the progress.
UN Development Program administrator Helen Clark joined calls to put "the government and people of Haiti... in the driver's seat of the recovery" and stressed the need to involve civil society, the private sector and the Haitian diaspora.
And Bellerive outlined his $US4 billion ($A4.36 billion), two-year recovery and development plan, with focus on rebuilding destroyed government institutions and infrastructure, some 1,300 schools and 50 hospitals and health centres.
