Delegation returns from Caracas with more aid

Prime Minister Said Musa and his delegation have returned from a weekend summit and ministerial meetings in Venezuela. The talks in Caracas, hosted by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez, brought together the fourteen countries participating in the Petro Caribe initiative, a programme in which oil rich Venezuela is providing petroleum products and energy advice to its Caribbean neighbours on a concessional basis. While the multilateral discussions looked at broad topics such as expansion of refining capacity, petroleum exploration, alternative energy sources and conservation, Belize’s concerns focussed on transport and storage of imported gasoline and diesel. It is understood that efforts are being made to solve these problems and allow Belize to take fuller advantage of the deal in which government pays only sixty percent of the fuel’s market cost and takes the remainder as a long term low interest loan. While in Caracas the Prime Minister finalised plans with the Venezuelan government for a ten million U.S. dollar grant for specific poverty alleviation projects in Belize, primarily involving housing, youth and sports. Accompanying the Prime Minister were Home Affairs Minister Ralph Fonseca and Foreign Affairs C.E.O. Amalia Mai. Later this month a new ambassador from Venezuela will take up residence in Belize.