Trinidad considering oil deal for CARICOM
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, (CANA) - Venezuela's offer to supply oil at reduced rates to some Caribbean Community (CARICOM) states will be discussed at a meeting of Caribbean and Latin American officials in Trinidad and Tobago next month.
The idea for the November 10 meeting was discussed in Paraguay at a recent meeting of OLADE - the energy organisation for Latin America.
"A special meeting for CARICOM representatives was convened under the auspices of OLADE and the general consensus was that the Caribbean countries should get together in Trinidad sometime in November to discuss this matter as part of an overall Caribbean hydrocarbon cooperation mechanism," Trinidad and Tobago's Energy Minister, Finbar Gangar, said Tuesday.
Gangar said Trinidad and Tobago would be using the meeting to formulate an appropriate response to the Venezuela plan, which has been praised by the Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) Norman Girvan.
Guyana, which has a territorial controversy with Caracas, maintains reservations about the new oil deal.
Gangar said Trinidad and Tobago was giving active consideration to offering its regional neighbours concessions similar to those being granted by Venezuela.
"But I wouldn't want to prejudge what is being done right now," he said, referring to a meeting between senior officials of state-owned oil company Petrotrin and the Ministry of Energy.
"We may need to offer some assistance to our Caribbean brothers while at the same time deepening our own economic relationship with them," he added.
Gangar said Petrotrin had already discussed the issue with representatives of oil companies in two of its largest regional markets - Barbados and Jamaica.
Those discussions would have to be formalised at the November meeting, he said.
Antigua and Barbuda's Prime Minister, Lester Bird, has written Prime Minister Basdeo Panday, urging the government to devise a scheme for providing CARICOM countries a concessionary price for petrol and petroleum products.
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