Bolivarian Alliance Holds Presidential Summit in Caracas

On Thursday, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - Peoples' Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) will hold a high-level summit in Caracas.

RELATED: 

Venezuela's President Calls To Consolidate Latin American Unity

Founded as an alternative to the U.S.-led Free Trade Area of the Americas, the ALBA-TCP seeks to alleviate poverty and promote socioeconomic reform in Latin America through trade agreements that meet each country’s needs rather than through free-market policies.

ALBA-TCP Secretary Sacha Llorenti stated that the countries’ leaders will discuss initiatives and strategies to further strengthen the Alliance in a scenario where the United States and its regional allies are generating a boycott of integration efforts.

Antigua and Barbuda’s Foreign Minister Everly Chet Greene and Granada`s Environmental Minister Peter David have arrived in Caracas to participate in the conclave, which will pay tribute to the 200th anniversary of the Carabobo Battle.

ALBA was established through a treaty signed between Cuba’s President Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez in 2004. Later, Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Dominica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Grenada, and Saint Kitts & Nevis joined the initiative.

Through the years, this regional bloc’s social achievements have included the implementation of health care interventions such as the Latin American Infant Cardiological Hospital, the Program of Attention to People with Disabilities, and the training of doctors in Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM).

In 2008, the integration initiative also created the ALBA Bank to channel money to development projects throughout the region.