Canada pledged another $400 million in aid and debt relief for an earthquake-devastated Haiti Wednesday.

The move was announced during an international donors conference into the rebuilding of Haiti held at the UN Headquarters.

Rule of law will be the key to rebuilding an earthquake-devastated Haiti, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said earlier.

"While Haiti has been weakened, it is not stateless," Cannon told the meeting of more than 100 countries.

"Strengthening governance and rule-of-law institutions, as well as facilitating decentralization, will be critical elements of a holistic and comprehensive reconstruction plan."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the U.S. was pledging $1.15 billion for Haiti. Brazil followed with a $172 million pledge.

"We cannot retreat to failed strategies . . . We have to follow through," Clinton said.

President Rene Preval gave his thanks to the international community for coming to Haiti's aid after the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed more than 200,000.

"Let us dream of a new Haiti whose fate lives in a new project," he said.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton, the UN special envoy to Haiti, and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive will serve as co-chairs on the Interim Haitian Recovery Commission, that will oversee almost $4 billion in aid.

The commission will consist of representatives from donor countries, the Organization of American States, and other institutions.

Haiti's government has estimated it will cost $11.5 billion to rebuild the country.

Ottawa has already pledged to match the $220 million in private donations from Canadians for Haiti.