President Danilo Medina traveled tos Isla Margarita on Sunday, 5 May to attend the Seventh Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Petrocaribe oil alliance, called by President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela. Medina had just returned from attending the SICA Summit in Costa Rica, together with Central American leaders and President Barack Obama of the United States.
The DR is the largest beneficiary of the PetroCaribe agreement, and owes Venezuela more than US$3 billion for petrol sales at preferential rates and terms.
At the meeting, Maduro announced that the PetroCaribe agreement would continue under his administration, saying that this would be ratified with the Eighth Summit of PetroCaribe Heads of State and Government to be held in Managua, Nicaragua on 29 June.
President Nicolas Maduro announced plans for the creation of an integrated regional economic zone to unify and convert each nation’s economic, financial and energy strengths into opportunities for development. He also proposed a regional commercial airline.
Attending the Isla Margarita event were 18 participant countries in PetroCaribe and representatives from Bolivia, Brazil and Ecuador.
Last night, Sunday 5 May, upon his return to the country, President Danilo Medina said, “it was a great meeting,” in which they discussed “how our countries can have at least a commercial airline.”