CELAC Summit in Costa Rica

Prime Minister the Hon. Gaston Browne rounded off a series of bilateral meetings at the Third CELAC Summit in Costa Rica on Thursday, with a bilateral encounter with President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela.

Prime Minister Browne characterized the meeting as one that was very important to the energy future of Antigua and Barbuda, as well as to Antigua’s economic development.

Both leaders discussed the just-concluded CELAC Summit and stressed the necessity for solidarity on issues that affected the CELAC membership. The Antiguan leader congratulated President Maduro on his statement during the plenary session, where Maduro made an impassioned plea for the CELAC member countries to remain true to the values and ideals of earlier visionary leaders of the Latin American and Caribbean region.

The bilateral talks with Venezuela centred on plans to restructure the ownership of the West Indies Oil Company (WIOC). PM Browne invited Venezuela to take up a stake in WIOC and to partner with the Government of Antigua and Barbuda as majority shareholder in transforming WIOC into a key distribution centre for petroleum products in the Eastern Caribbean.

The prime minister pointed out that utilizing US$24 million being made available through ALBA Bank, the Government would facilitate the expansion of the share ownership of WIOC on very favorable terms.

Prime Minister Browne added that WIOC would benefit from increased investment, transfer of technology and more efficient management. He indicated that, in the coming days, his Government would be following up on the historic pact by finalizing the details and inking the deal.