Haitian Prime Minister, Jacques Edouard Alexis. AFP PHOTO

Addessing an economic forum in Madrid a day after an international donor conference welcomed reforms clearing a path to debt relief, Alexis urged Spanish firms to invest in his country and said he was satisfied with the conference which pledged to offer aid in return for "good governance."

Haiti's government is resolved "to undertake a merciless fight against all forms of corruption," Alexis told the Forum Europa.

Transparency International, earlier this year, dubbed Haiti the world's most corrupt nation.

The Caribbean country is also at the bottom of the charts in terms of average income with per capita gross domestic product (GDP) just 346 dollars, while years of violence have scarred the country.

Foreign governments have pledged to provide Haiti with 1.75 billion dollars (1.3 billion euros) since the ousting of President Jean Bertrand Aristide in 2004.

Nonetheless, the International Monetary Fund has identified "good progress in strengthening macroeconomic performance and introducing key structural reforms" and that judgment will allow Haiti access to debt relief as it battles external debt topping a billion dollars.

Alexis said Haiti is firmly on the path to reform and also urged his audience to pay less attention to "corruption league tables published by organisations seeking sensationalism", in reference to Transparency.

Thursday's conference in Madrid called for a "close relation between disbursements (of credit) and results obtained", in order to avoid possible corruption.

Alexis added that private investment should be forthcoming to contribute to Haiti's renewal and called on his audience to invest in tourism, agriculture and telecommunications.

But he added that the "priority of priorities" was education, with some 40 percent of the 8.3 million population illiterate, while 500,000 Haitian children do not attend school.

Madrid this week announced a strong rise in aid to Haiti to 38 million euros by 2008, most of it to be ploughed into educational programmes.