Chavez
to visit Jamaica
Jamaica
Gleaner
Kingston
Petroleumworld.com
08 14 06
Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez is expected in Jamaica next
week to conclude the signing of a US$260 million
loan to the Government for the next phase of Highway
2000.
President
Chavez will also officially sign the acquisition
agreement for a 49 per cent stake in Petrojam, the
state-owned oil refinery, and the adjustment to
the PetroCaribe Initiative which is now supplying
Air Jamaica with 2,500 barrels of oil per day. Prior
to this, PetroCaribe was supplying Jamaica with
21,000 barrels of oil per day with 40 per cent of
the payments converted to loans for development
projects.
RECENT
POSTPONEMENTS
Following
recent postponements, a Government source said the
visit would go ahead next week. Acting Prime Minister
Robert Pickersgill said he had heard discussions
within Government of the visit but would not confirm
what he said would be an arrangement between Prime
Minister Portia Simpson Miller and President Chavez.
Yesterday
afternoon an official from the Venezuelan Information
Ministry contacted The Gleaner in advance of a visit
which he said was yet to be confirmed, but might
come within the next two weeks.
A
spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Foreign Trade said: "In the light of the recent
postponement, a visit is always on the cards, and
when it becomes a reality the public will become
informed."
The
upcoming visit of Mr. Chavez has taken on extra
significance in light of Venezuela's bid for a non-permanent
seat on the United Nations Security Council, a move
the United States opposes given increasingly hostile
relations between the two countries.
Opposition
Leader Bruce Golding has, as a result, said it would
be against the national interest for Jamaica to
support Venezuela.
The
U.S. has been lobbying the region to instead support
Guatemala.
However,
CARICOM is likely to line up behind Chavez, given
Guatemala's lead role in persuading the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) to rule illegal the European
Union (EU) preferential trading support for the
African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) banana industry.
Jamaica Gleaner
Saturday | August 12, 2006
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