The member states of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of the Americas-People's Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) agreed on the route for the creation of the Cooperation Agency for Development, it was announced here today.
The information was disclosed last night on his account on the social network X, by the executive secretary of the regional integration bloc, Jorge Arreaza.
He said that delegates from the 10 ALBA-TCP countries participated in the virtual and face-to-face meeting, held in Caracas, with the purpose of creating this Cooperation Agency in compliance with the mandate of the XXIII Summit of Heads of State and Government, which took place last April.
Arreaza stated at the inauguration of the meeting that the creation of this instrument will be "essential for the liberation of our peoples", by promoting integration and humanitarian aid in a real and direct way.
To this end, he affirmed, they will use the capacities that "we already have, such as the ALBA Bank", and ruled out that the Agency would generate any hint of bureaucracy.
He quoted the words of the President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, when he said that the Alliance has "the most human achievements that can exist in any union mechanism".
In this sense, he mentioned the number of people who have undergone eye surgery through Operation Miracle, the number of doctors trained, the number of people who have become literate and the number of people assisted during disasters.
All this has been done for almost 20 years and "it is time for that cooperation to take an organic and institutional form," he stressed.
The ALBA-TCP Executive Secretariat and the ALBA Bank will be responsible for the operation of the Cooperation Agency, which will receive projects and contributions from the countries of the bloc, he said.
He stressed the importance of raising resources for cooperation, from its own members and other international organizations, especially in view of the consequences of climate change, to deal with natural emergencies and contingencies.
The president of the ALBA Bank, Raúl Li Causi, said that the Cooperation Agency for Development of the Alliance is the tool that the leaders of the bloc put at the service of the people, with a focus on development and the implementation of the ALBA-TCP Strategic Agenda 2030.
This includes the planning and optimization of funds, support to the Executive Secretariat in fundraising, coordination of humanitarian interventions and technical assistance for the formulation of projects, said the Deputy Foreign Minister for the Caribbean.
He stated that the entity he heads is willing to finance projects focused on renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, natural resource management, infrastructure, health, technology, digital communication, tourism and others.