Venezuela Ready for ALBA Summit

HAVANA, Cuba, April 15 (acn) Venezuela is ready to receive the leaders at the extraordinary Summit of the Bolivarian Alternative for The Americas (ALBA), which will be held as of April 16 in the city of Cumaná, on the eastern side of that Andean nation.

The multi-state television network TeleSur and the Alba Portal reported
that the economic issue will be a priority for delegations attending the
event.

The sources add that leaders from Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela, as well as Ecuador and Paraguay as guests, will analyze on Thursday cooperation projects and common stances in this second trimester of 2009.

During the meeting, participants will review the development of the project for a common currency, according to information disclosed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

The proposal, which for many critics is so difficult to achieve as was said before about the Euro, includes a chronology which, before the establishment of a physical currency, will go through the creation of a joint account unit, the Sucre.

The project is part of a wide program that comprises of both joint ventures - called grand nationals- and actions in the fields of health and education.

Cumaná itself, with some half a million inhabitants, will become the HQ of the ALBA Fishing Fleet, one of the cooperation initiatives seeking to produce food at low cost.

The company, with 51% of the shares in the hands of the Venezuelan Agrarian Corporation and 49% in those of the Cuban company Pescavante, plans to have some 30 ships and 38 processing plants.

Another issue to be tackled by participants in the Cumaná Summit will be, according to information released by President Chávez, "to take careful aim" vis-a vis with the Summit of The Americas, scheduled for April 17-19 in Trinidad and Tobago.

"Our artillery is getting ready", said Chávez in recent statements, in which he also criticized the absence of Cuba in this type of meeting, as a result of Washington’s attempts to isolate the archipelago.

Chávez and the rest of the leaders of ALBA member nations have expressed their opposition to the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States against Cuba.


(Venezuela lista para Cumbre del ALBA)