CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

ALBA Approved Common Currency for Regional Trade Operations

CUBA, October 17, 2009. The first session of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) concluded in Bolivia with the approval of a treaty that set up a common currency for regional trade operations known as “Unique System of Regional Compensation” (SUCRE for its Spanish acronym).

“The document has been approved” said Bolivia's Evo Morales after his Treasury minister Luis Arce explained about the scope of what still is a “virtual currency.”

The SUCRE “is a step forward to our monetary independence from the US dollar dictatorship, which the Yankee empire imposed on the world”, pointed out the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, after the document setting up the currency was approved.

The ALBA summit was attended by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa; and Prime Ministres Roosevelt Shkerrit, Ralph Gonsalves and Baldwin Spencer, from Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda, respectively.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who could not make it to the inauguration ceremony, expressed his excuses and announced he would be attend on Saturday.

The list of guests included representatives from Uruguay, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Grenada and the Russian Federation.

The Peoples´ Trade Treaties (TCP), the grand-national enterprises and their projects, the establishment of the Economic Complementation Zone and the setting up of ALBA Bank have been among the issues under discussion.

The review of the situation in Honduras since the military coup was staged against constitutional president Manuel Zelaya, concluded with the decision of “enforcing economic and commercial sanctions against the de facto regime, as adopted by ALBA member countries”.

The World economic crisis and its repercussions on the region, as well as the opening of US military bases in the region are among the topics that, according to Telesur network and other media outlets, have been addressed in the final declaration of the Summit, a document that will be released today. (Cubaminrex- ACN)

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