GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP):
THE LEADERS of Venezuela and several Caribbean countries will meet in Jamaica next month for talks on the South American nation's offer to provide the region with oil under flexible terms, officials said yesterday.
The leaders will meet September 6 in the Jamaican resort town of Montego Bay, the 15-nation Caribbean Community's secretariat said. The leaders will work out specifics of the Petrocaribe agreement that 14 countries signed at a June summit in Venezuela, the secretariat said. Petrocaribe extends and improves financing arrangements under past oil deals and calls for an expanded fleet of Venezuelan tankers to deliver fuel directly to bypass costly intermediaries. The pact intends to help small Caribbean economies cope with rising oil prices.
Trinidad and Barbados refused to sign the deal in June, saying they wanted more details. It was unclear if the Prime Ministers of the two countries would participate in the Jamaica meeting.
Trinidad Prime Minister Patrick Manning has expressed concern that the agreement will -hurt his oil-rich country's economic interests in the region. Trinidad provides about 60,000 barrels a day to CARICOM.
Venezuelan officials have been touring Caribbean countries to follow up on the Petrocaribe plan. Last week, Jamaica became the first nation to finalise an agreement detailing its participation.
Under the deal, Jamaica will buy Venezuelan oil at US$40 per barrel, compared to the more than US$60 it now costs on the world market. The deal will initially involve about 22,000 barrels a day, and Jamaica will be able to pay Venezuela in goods and services as well as through low-interest, long-term loans.
