[NYTr] Petrocaribe Summit Opens in Cienfuegos, Cuba
 
Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:10:35 -0600 (CST)


Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 

Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN)
http://ainch.ain.cu/mailman/listinfo/ingles

Petrocaribe Summit Opens in Cienfuegos, Cuba

Cienfuegos, Dec 21 (acn) Heads of State or representatives from 16 
member countries are attending teh opening ceremony of the 4th
Petrocaribe summit this Friday in what is seen as a historical event 
for this south-central Cuban city. Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago are 
also attending as guests and Guatemala and Honduras as observers.

Following a closed door meeting of energy ministers and experts on 
Thursday, the heads of state will review the progress in the accords 
previously adopted in the context of Petrocaribe as well as study and 
sign a proposed declaration on the projects within the region. 
Bilateral meetings to discuss specific agreements are also foreseen.

Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela's oil and energy minister, told the press 
Thursday that the 4th Petrocaribe summit and the interest of other 
countries to join are a demonstration of the strengthening and 
institutionalization of Petrocaribe.

The Jagua Hotel, the banner tourist resort in Cienfuegos, is the 
headquarters for the forum. To accommodate the event, the Guanaroca 
Hall was equipped with all the technical facilities needed.
Hundreds of workers and several institutions and organizations have 
been hard at work for months to make possible the reactivation of the 
Camilo Cienfuegos Oil Refinery, which now coincides with the 
Petrocaribe summit. The complex is a project of the joint 
Cuban-Venezuelan company PDVCUPET S.A., established within the 
framework of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA).

Also on Thursday afternoon-evening, the final touches were being put on 
the new Simon Bolivar housing project where 100 "petro-houses" will 
supply the needs of a like number of families. The project is a 
donation from the people and government of Venezuela.

                            ***

Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Petrocaribe, a Cooperation Initiative

by Alejandro Gomez

Cienfuegos, Cuba, Dec 21 (Prensa Latina) The fourth summit of heads of
State and Government, to be run in this Cuban city, will strengthen
Petrocaribe as an exemplary initiative for energy cooperation and
integration in the Caribbean and Central America.

The participation of 12 of 16 top leaders from member nations reflects
the importance given to Petrocaribe, a proposal by Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez, based on solidarity and special treatment of developing
countries and lacking in hydrocarbons.

The heads of State and Government from Venezuela, Antigua and Barbuda,
Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis, St.
Vincent and the Grenadines, Haiti, Jamaica and Nicaragua have so far
confirmed their attendance.

The Cuban delegation will be led by First Vice President of the
Councils of State Raul Castro. Bahamas, Granada, Saint Lucia and
Surinam are the other four nation members of Petrocaribe that will be
present in the meeting, as well as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago,
Guatemala and Honduras, as observers.

During the summit, Honduras will formalize its request of joining the
initiative, emerged in June 2005 in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela.

Venezuelan Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez told press this
fourth meeting evidences that Petrocaribe is an unprecedented
initiative for energy cooperation.

Ramirez stated that with this proposal, Venezuela recognizes the oil
market worldwide is marked by tremendous asymmetries.

The minister said that Venezuela, as an oil country and in opinion that
there is a asymmetric situation in the world, it takes this initiative
to support directly the energy bill, as well as change the highly
wasteful consumption pattern.

It is expected that the participants in the event adopt a political
declaration and as a culmination of the summit, the reopening of the
"Camilo Cienfuegos" oil refinery, of this city, which will produce in
its first stage about 65,000 barrels of crude oil daily.

                                 *
=================================================================
 NY Transfer News Collective     *    A Service of Blythe Systems
           Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
            Our main website:   http://www.blythe.org
   List Archives:       http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
   Subscribe:     http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
=================================================================