Caribbean nations have called on the USA to end its trade embargo on Venezuela to allow them to access oil from the neighboring country.
The 15-member Caribbean Community (Caricom) “urged the removal of the sanctions on Venezuela to allow for countries in the Region to benefit from the PetroCaribe initiative and for further progress on the exploration of the cross-border natural gas fields between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela”, according to a communique for the group’s meeting last week.
A USA delegation led by State Secretary Anthony Blinken attended the gathering in the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, Port of Spain.
PetroCaribe is a deal initiated by Venezuela and launched 2005 under which it supplies petroleum and petroleum products to Caribbean states at discounted prices.
It allows purchasing countries to buy oil with an upfront payment on market value but on 25-year financing for the remaining dues at a one percent interest if market oil prices top an agreed threshold.
Oil trade under PetroCaribe had been suspended 2018 due to declining Venezuelan output, political pressure from the USA on Venezuela and recipient countries and weaker global oil and gas prices, according to the business group Caribbean Council.
Caracas has been reviving supply under the pact with partner governments. One of the latest agreements for relaunch was struck with Belize, according to Venezuelan government-backed broadcaster teleSUR on November 25, 2022.
Meanwhile Washington had already said it would not block the development of the Dragon gas field on the border between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago.
…In an address to the USA delegation at last week’s assembly, Caricom chair Roosevelt Skerrit hailed efforts on both sides to open up economic cooperation between Caricom and the USA.
But he noted, “Blacklisting, correspondent banking and access to concessional financing based on vulnerability are still a long way from resolution”.
“We need to see some movement in these areas if we are to realize the required results”, Skerrit, who is premier of Dominica, said, according to a Caricom transcript.
Meanwhile Blinken focused on climate cooperation in his address, saying, “… we’re looking to build greater resilience and adaptation to climate change, while accelerating the region’s transition to clean energy”.
Source: Rigzone
© CopyRights RawNews1st
