**Donors are to gather at the UN in New York to pledge billions of dollars to kickstart reconstruction in Haiti after January’s devastating earthquake.**The Haitian government will ask for nearly $4bn (£2.65bn) to fund the first instalment of its reconstruction plan
The amount is only a third of what is needed to fully rebuild the country after the quake, which killed more than 200,000 and left one million homeless.
Representatives of about 100 countries are expected to attend the conference.
The plan is to set up a reconstruction fund and commission jointly managed by Haitians and foreigners, with Haiti’s government setting the priorities.
Currently, the main tasks are to reconstruct destroyed government buildings, hospitals and schools, get farms working again and create jobs.
Plan of action
The conference co-hosts - the UN and the United States - hope the donors will dig deep into their pockets, says the BBC’s Barbara Plett at the United Nations.
UN humanitarian co-ordinator John Holmes said it was crucial to get this first step in reconstruction right.
“There should be a clear plan of action and a clear vision of how Haiti is going to be reconstructed which is endorsed by the international community,” he said.
“The pledging of those funds for the immediate future is very important as a sign of the willingness of the international community to actually do that.”
Everyone is aware that billions of dollars of aid have failed to fix Haiti in the past, says our correspondent.
To help make it work this time, the aim is to strengthen the country’s weak and corrupt government institutions.
Edmond Mulet, the head of the UN mission in Haiti, says this is not an option, but a responsibility.
“The international community is co-responsible for that weakness of Haitian institutions and the Haitian state,” he said.
"We’ve always worked not with the government or through the government, because it has been too corrupt, too weak.
“But if we don’t address the situation we will have a peace-keeping mission in Haiti for the next 200 years.” This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.