The United States Ambassador to Haiti and the Latin American country's Minister of Agriculture met this week to discuss restarting Haitian mango exports to the United States. 

In 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that starting in January 2023, the country would halt all Haitian mango imports. The decision was a response to the increasingly hostile situation in Haiti affecting the work and safety of U.S. Animal Plant Health Inspection Service inspectors. 

In a letter addressed to the Association Nationale des Exportateurs de Mangues (ANEM), APHIS stated that all inspectors would be placed on indefinite paid leave starting in October 2022.

Haiti one of the leading producers of Francisque mangos in the Caribbean and Central America, generating nearly 15 million dollars in revenue for Haitian producers annually.

Since the halt, many growers, pickers, packers, and others associated with the mango export process have lost their jobs and Haiti has seen annual losses of 15 to 20 million dollars. 

The two government officials met primarily to discuss future efforts to spearhead agricultural development in Haiti and to reach a middle ground that benefits both countries' objectives.