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4-30-05, 10:11 am
From Ahora
Cuban president Fidel Castro and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez presided over the signing of protocols that strengthen bilateral ties, within the context the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americans, known by its Spanish acronym, ALBA.
In a meeting at Havana's Convention Center Thursday, the Cuban Minister for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, Marta Lomas, and the Venezuelan Minister of Energy and Oil, Rafael Ramirez, penned the Strategic Plan for the implementation of the fraternalbilateral integration scheme.
Lomas read the Final Declaration of the First Cuba-Venezuela Meeting for the implementation of ALBA, reached after two days of negotiations. The protocol points to a most beneficial productive complementation, saving of resources and the boosting of employment.
The declaration states that 49 agreements were signed, which range from government accords, letters of intention, and memoranda of understanding, all under the umbrella of the Strategic Plan.
Highlights of this wide-encompassing bilateral cooperation effort include the opening in Venezuela this year of 600 diagnostic centers, a similar number of rehabilitation and physiotherapy facilities, as well as 35 high technology units.
All services provided by these top quality healthcare service facilities will be accorded to the Venezuelan people free of charge. Cuba will contribute to the training of forty thousand medical doctors and five thousand specialists in healthcare technology, within the Barrio Adentro II program.
As part of the program, Cuba will also aid in the training of ten thousand students in careers such as medicine and nursing. The students will conduct their training practice in hospitals and policlinics located all over the island.
In terms of trade and commerce, the Strategic Plan foresees the aterialization of joint projects in the immediate future, among them, the initial purchase by Cuba of more than 412 million dollars worth of Venezuelan goods.
Another accord anticipates the purchase and selling of crude oil and the storage of crude oil and its derivatives, the upgrading of the oil refinery located in the Cuban central province of Cienfuegos, and technology transfers between the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA, and its Cuban counterpart, CUPET.
The plan equally stipulates that the ministries of foreign relations of the two countries work jointly in international bodies to promote knowledge of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, an initiative cited within this accord is the presentation of ALBA at the forthcoming Second South-South Cooperation Summit, slated for later this year in Qatar, and at the United Nations High Level Meeting next September.
The Cuban and Venezuelan delegations adopted the formal commitment of sparing no efforts until seeing the dream of Simon Bolivar and José Marti, of a united and integrated Latin America and Caribbean, come true.
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