(EFE) .- The Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America (Alba) set itself this Tuesday in Havana as a goal the creation of two regional companies that develop medicines and food, while recognizing the importance of reinforcing economic integration between its members.
As Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel explained at the close of the XX summit of this mechanism, the final statement of the meeting supports the “design of a post-covid strategy” that bets on “biotechnological and economic-productive” industries, with help from the Alba bank, to produce “drugs and food.”
Earlier, the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, declared in his speech that it is time for the member countries of Alba to take “a step forward” and the bloc move towards a “joint action program” in the economic sphere.
For this reason, he asked the Alba executive secretariat for a “greater effort to articulate a comprehensive plan for the economic, commercial, financial and monetary development of the member countries” and gave as examples integration projects in Asia and Europe.
The proposal for common agri-food and pharmaceutical companies was developed in his speech by the Bolivian president, Luis Arce, who underlined the need for the region to achieve food and biotechnology sovereignty
Maduro, who called for a “new, firm and unitary leadership” for the bloc, advocated the “concrete utopia” of a “shared economic development”, a “historical priority” for his countries.
The proposal for common agri-food and pharmaceutical companies was developed in his speech by Bolivian President Luis Arce, who underlined the need for the region to achieve food and biotechnological sovereignty.
“Using the knowledge of ancestral peoples,” said the Bolivian head of state, complementing that it is also “necessary” an economic and productive reactivation in the center of which the Banco del Alba is located.
The meeting in Havana, which coincides with the 17th anniversary of the founding of the bloc, had one of its main issues in the economic situation and the formulas for development and integration.
Sacha Llorenti, the Bolivian diplomat currently leading the alliance, acknowledged that even though Alba is “strengthened,” there is an urgency to reinforce economic complementarity.
Another vital point, according to Llorenti, is that of the connections between the Caribbean countries and the rest, although he underlined the advances in political and social matters of the regional bloc.
The vast majority of the leaders also charged against what they described as US imperialism, with the exception of the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The other key issue on which all the leaders influenced in their interventions was the consequences of the pandemic.
Arce said that cooperation should be the answer to the challenge posed by the covid-19 pandemic and the “unequal” distribution of vaccines in the world. He demanded a more “equitable” distribution and criticized its “uneven concentration” in rich countries.
As a solution, he proposed to release patents on vaccines and share the knowledge for their production and that the World Health Organization (WHO) work together with governments for “fair and equitable” access.
The vast majority of the leaders also charged against what they described as US imperialism, with the exception of the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalvez, who advocated for some kind of “understanding” with Washington.
Maduro, for his part, spoke of the “lies”, the “weeds” and the sanctions of Washington, while Díaz-Canel denounced that the US reinforced its “plans for domination and hegemony” during the pandemic.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, for his part, rejected what in his opinion was the “kidnapping” of Colombian-Venezuelan businessman Alex Saab, who was extradited to the United States pending trial in a money laundering case.
“The only thing (Saab) has done is bring food to the Venezuelan people,” said Ortega, who said that the US is trying to “starve the Venezuelan people.”
“The only thing (Saab) has done is to bring food to the Venezuelan people,” said Ortega, who said that the United States is trying “to starve the Venezuelan people.”
Ortega also praised the “anti-imperialist sentiment” that, according to him, exists in the Nicaraguan people for the “more than 100 years of aggression.” Ortega listed the “aggressions and genocides” by the United States and its allies “in the name of democracy.”
Currently, Alba has ten members (Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Nicaragua, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela) and three special guests (Haiti, Syria and Suriname ).
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