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The fourth Summit of South American-Arab Countries, known as ASPA, opens Tuesday in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, where Venezuela and Ecuador will present a joint proposal to stabilize the price of oil at around US$80 per barrel.
"It cannot be that we produce oil and financial speculators choose the price," said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro before departing to Saudi Arabia.
Maduro is attending the two-day meeting along with representatives and heads of government from the 34 member countries of this bi-regional mechanism for cooperation and political coordination.
The Venezuelan leader said the proposal was coordinated with his Ecuadorean counterpart, Rafael Correa, and the government of Algeria, which also sends delegates to the summit.
Since 2014, oil prices have declined significantly, causing serious difficulties for individual commodity exporters like Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil, whose economies are burdened by lack of oil revenue.
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#LAFOTO | Presidente de Ecuador, @MashiRafael, llega a Arabia Saudita para participar en IV Cumbre ASPA pic.twitter.com/MzjXXfVi6q
— teleSUR TV (@teleSURtv)
November 10, 2015
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa arrives in Saudi Arabia to participate in the 4th ASPA Summit
Despite calls by some members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to reduce production to shore up prices, the bloc has decided not to cut the oil output and stick with its decision to maintain the price of oil below US$50.
Venezuela wants the group to establish a price band between US$70 and US$80 per barrel to ensure oilfield investments and help strengthen the region’s economy.
Last month, the global oil prices climbed to more than US$50 per barrel for the first time since July. OPEC says the market will be "more balanced" in 2016.
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ASPA is composed of the 12 countries of the Union of South American Nations and the 22 members of the Arab League. The heads of state summit is held every three years, the first was held in 2005 in Brasilia, Brazil, followed by a second in Doha, Qatar, in 2009. It was last held in Lima, Peru, in October 2012.
