Meeting between Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil and heads of diplomatic missions of Caribbean countries in Venezuela, at Casa Amarilla, Caracas, on January 20, 2023. Photo: Twitter/@yvangil.
The government of Venezuela, together with the other countries of the Caribbean region, is carrying out an evaluation process for the relaunching of Petrocaribe as a key organization for the economic development of the region.
This was announced by Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Yvan Gil on Friday, January 20, after he held a meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions of Caribbean countries accredited to Venezuela, at Casa Amarilla, headquarters of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Venezuela. Apart from the Petrocaribe issue, the participants of the meeting also forwarded proposals regarding the incentive of cooperation projects, through institutions such as the ALBA Bank.
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According to a press release from the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, during the meeting, the diplomats also talked about cooperation and solidarity between Venezuela and the Caribbean nations, and discussed issues related to regional connectivity, energy and food security, and regional integration, among other matters of interest.
Agradecido con el encuentro sostenido con los Jefes de Misión del Caribe en Venezuela, sin duda, somos más que vecinos y compartimos los mismos ideales, desafíos y la necesidad de seguir trabajando de manera conjunta en materia de integración entre nuestros pueblos. pic.twitter.com/2Q9RY8zdHd
— Yvan Gil (@yvangil) January 18, 2023
“We are more than neighbors and we share the same ideals, challenges and the need to continue working together, in terms of integration among our peoples,” Minister Gil wrote on his social media after the meeting.
Petrocaribe is a regional oil alliance composed of 18 Caribbean countries which was founded on June 29, 2005, in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, pioneered by then president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez Frías. Venezuela offered preferential payment for oil shipments to the Petrocaribe members with an upfront payment of 5-50% of the bill, and payment of the remaining balance in a period of 17-25 years at 1% interest, if oil prices were above $40 per barrel. Petrocaribe was part of the first “pink tide” in Latin America, established with the objective of achieving post-neoliberal development in the region and South-South cooperation.
In 2013, Petrocaribe established ties with the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), aiming to go beyond oil trade by promoting economic cooperation and regional integration. However, successive US administrations since Obama did everything possible to undermine the alliance and force the Caribbean countries to exit the deal, despite the fact that the Caribbean nations were receiving immense benefits from it.
(Últimas Noticias) by Reinaldo Linares, with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/AF
