The Caracol Industrial Park has officially launched on October 22nd.

President Martelly led the inauguration event in the presence of Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, Minister of Commerce Wilson Laleau, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former US President Bill Clinton, and the IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno among other officials and guests.

A 300 million dollar investment, the Caracol industrial park is a joint project between Haiti’s government, the Inter-American Development Bank and the US government. It is the biggest industrial park in the region, and Haiti's hope for job creation and economic growth in the North of the country. The industrial park occupies 246 hectares of land and is expected to create about 65,000 jobs.

The construction of Caracol started before the earthquake, but after the natural disaster, it became a priority for Haiti's government and its foreign partners.

The Caracol Park, owned by the Haitian Government's "Société Nationale des Parcs Industriels (SONAPI)" and run by a private management firm, has its first two tenants. Caracol's first tenant was South Korean apparel giant Sae-A Trading Co. Ltd, which begun production in May. It has agreed to create 20,000 jobs within six years. According to the Associated Press, Sae-A will pay employees Haiti's minimum wage, which is $5 a day.

The second tenant is a local paint manufacturing company, Peintures Caraibes SA.

Even though it was launched today, the North Industrial Park project will be fully completed within 5 years.