Comment & analysis
Final declaration of the extraordinary meeting of the political council of the ALBA, 25 January 2010
2010-01-28, Issue 467
http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/61798
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The member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America- Treaty of Commerce of the People (ALBA-TCP), an extraordinary meeting in Caracas, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, are concerned about the grave situation in the sister Caribbean nation of Haiti.
The countries of ALBA-TCP expressed their solidarity with the brotherly people and government of Haiti, and again expressed their deepest condolences for the loss of human lives resulting from the earthquake on Tuesday 12 January 2010.
They stressed that efforts to rebuild Haiti must have the people and government of that country as the principal protagonists, respecting the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the broader, equitable, participatory and transparent joint work of the international community in the reconstruction of Haiti.
They stressed the central role of coordination, harmonisation and management control, which corresponds to the Organisation of the United Nations in the international cooperative effort to address the emergency in Haiti and help rebuild and promote the development of that sister nation.
They expressed concern over the excessive presence of foreign military forces in Haiti, with no reasons justifying precision and without her authority, purposes, responsibilities and length of stay, which threatens to further complicate the conditions on the ground and the realisation of the international cooperation.
They approved the comprehensive ALBA project for emergency relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction of Haiti in the area of health, bringing together the efforts of countries of ALBA-TCP and leveraging the experience of cooperation with that country and conditions already established in the ground. This project provides the assurance from the viewpoint of logistics, infrastructure, transportation, technical support and supply.
They agreed to send a high-level representation of the ALBA-TCP to hold a meeting with President René Préval, to move the willing cooperation of the NATO countries and propose the Comprehensive Cooperation Project, within which the area of health will be the central element.
They confirmed the willingness of the ALBA-TCP to cooperate with other countries and groupings of countries in a position to help, always with a view to alleviating the situation of the Haitian people and contribute to their development requirements.
They instructed the Bank of ALBA to establish the Humanitarian Fund of the ALBA-TCP for Haiti, which will be formed from contributions from member countries of the alliance.
They revived plans to support the generation of electricity, ensuring all the necessary fuel supply to plants in Cape Haitian, Gonaives and Carrefour, as well as continued support through PETROCARIBE energy.
They deployed a plan calling for priority attention to children, which combines educational infrastructure rehabilitation in Haiti and food aid programmes, school equipment and teacher training.
They agreed to supply food to ease the crisis triggered by the collapse of production networks and distribution of food, caused by the earthquake, as well as revitalise and strengthen the food production plans that were being implemented within the framework of the ALBA Food.
They considered a possible amnesty to regularise the immigration status of Haitians living in the countries of ALBA-TCP.
They called in specialists from each of our countries to formulate their recommendations on the approach of a reconstruction plan in line with the actual capacity of the ALBA countries and with the deepest needs in the field, a plan for demolition and reconstruction.
They agreed to utilise the logistical capacity of the CITGO oil company in the United States, for the acquisition and transfer to Haiti of inputs, materials and specialised equipment needed for the reconstruction plans, given the collapse of Haitian ports and geographical proximity of operational bases of this subsidiary of PDVSA.
In Caracas, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on the 25th day of January 2010.
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* ALBA is an international cooperation organisation based on the idea of social, political, and economic integration between Latin American and Caribbean countries. The agreement was proposed as an alternative to the US proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas.
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