Teaming up: Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez greets Cuba's Fidel Castro
Chavez unveils Petrocaribe pact
Venezuela has signed an energy co-operation pact with 13 Caribbean states, including Cuba, in a move that will see it supply cheaper oil to its neighbours.
The Petrocaribe alliance will cut the energy bills of Caribbean states whose small island economies are struggling to cope with soaring world oil prices.
However, Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados did not sign up for the Petrocaribe accord. Trinidad expressed reservations the deal could undercut its own oil shipments.
Chavez and other Caribbean leaders hailed the energy pact as a move that will increase their collective sovereignty and economic independence in a region long dominated by US political and commercial power.
"For the countries of the Caribbean, Petrocaribe represents a welcome lifeline," Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson told the meeting of Caribbean leaders, including Cuban President Fidel Castro.
Chavez, outlining the initiative, said: "Venezuela wants to share its energy potential with South America and the Caribbean."
Petrocaribe will create a regional oil shipment, storage and refining network promoted by Venezuela. Chavez said this would eliminate intermediary private oil traders and offer improved preferential terms for payment.
Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA has created an affiliate, PDV Caribe, to co-ordinate the Petrocaribe plan.
The nations which attended the Venezuela summit were Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Bahamas, Belize, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Dominica, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago.