Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Saturday that the Caribbean energy bloc, PetroCaribe, offers a different and successful model for lower income countries in the Caribbean and Latin America, which prevents international crises like the growing refugee crisis in the Mediterranean.
“PetroCaribe is part of a successful experiment of the integration of energy,” the president said from the island nation of Jamaica. “This is a project that has demonstrated in its 10 years that it is possible to construct a different model.”
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrived to Montego Bay, after flying directly from Qatar to meet with Caribbean leaders for a summit of the Venezuelan-lead oil bloc, PetroCaribe. Upon his arrival he described the bloc as being "the foundation for the construction of a new independence in Latin America and the Caribbean."
The meeting in Jamaica will focus on examining the progress PetroCaribe has made in improving access to energy in the Caribbean region, and formulating new strategies on expanding the project in the future. According to a summit schedule obtained by teleSUR, the meeting will also include discussions on reducing hunger and poverty in the Caribbean, along with boosting ties between member states.
During his opening remarks the president praised the successful efforts of the international organization.
“It has turned into an integer formula, a miracle, a formula of integration, of prosperity ...and has contributed economic, energetic and social stability for the Caribbean,” the president said.
“We can say with certainty that without Petrocaribe, our Caribbean would be a Mediterranean,” he added, referring to the refugee crisis brewing in the Mediterranean sea at Europe’s borders.
The president also pledged to build a comprehensive plan for the Caribbean energy bloc in the next ten years, spanning from 2015-2025. The goals of the plan included
PetroCaribe was the brainchild of Maduro predecessor Hugo Chavez, who understood that social and economic development in lower income countries of the region was hindered by the need to spend on an indispensable resource – oil.
The Petrocaribe Energy Cooperation Agreement was formally constituted on June 29, 2005, and signed by 14 countries. The initiative aims to reduce the socioeconomic inequality through financial solidarity and cooperation.
Fulfilling regional energy needs
In order to address structural inequalities, PetroCaribe signed an agreement with Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA) in order to establish the Alba Caribbean Fund as a mechanism to promote social economic development projects in the member states.
The PetroCaribe alliance also provides member countries Venezuelan oil at low interest rates and with a long-term payment plan. The preferential reimbursement plan allows government to reduce immediate spending on energy in order to invest in social services such as education, health and development projects.
According to a 2014 report published by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the PetroCaribe initiative has provided the Caribbean Community countries with financing for oil purchases worth about 3.5% of sub regional GDP and about 6% of GDP for the small islands of the Economic Union of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
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