Raul Castro Will Head Cuban Delegation at Petrocaribe Summit

During a press conference on Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Alejandro
Gonzalez announced that 12 heads of state and government out of the 16
countries that make up the regional energy cooperation body have
already confirmed their presence on the island for this event.

Some of the leaders who have confirmed their attendance are the
presidents of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez; Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega; Haiti,
Rene Preval; and the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernandez. Also
confirmed are the prime ministers of Jamaica, Bruce Golding; Antigua
and Barbuda, Baldwin Spencer; and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,
Ralph Gonsalves.

Gonzalez explained that, on this occasion, Barbados and Trinidad and
Tobago will again participate as guests while Guatemala and Honduras
will do it for the first time in the same condition.

Also attending the event will be representatives from the Caribbean
Community (CARICOM), the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and the
Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the Cuban diplomat
added.

He noted that the event will take place at the Jagua Hotel in
Cienfuegos and that it would be preceded by a meeting of ministers in
charge of the energy sector in their respective countries.

Gonzalez explained that the development of agreements reached at
previous summits will be evaluated while participants will also
exchange opinions about efforts aiming at turning this regional
initiative into an instrument of cooperation and regional integration.

He also announced that the closing ceremony of the event will include
the re-inauguration of the oil refinery of Cienfuegos, a
Cuban-Venezuelan joint-venture, which will process 65,000 oil barrels
per day in its first stage.

The idea of Petrocaribe emerged on June 29th, 2005, during the First
Energy Meeting of Heads of State and Government of the Caribbean in
Venezuela. It is a mechanism of energy cooperation among underdeveloped countries based on solidarity and preferential treatment to the poorest or most underdeveloped nations.