ST, JOHN'S, Antigua (Antigua Sun):
ANTIGUA AND Barbuda and the rest of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) islands have agreed to coordinate future PetroCaribe negotiations with Venezuela after it was revealed that Antigua had been able to negotiate significantly better terms than its neighbours in bilateral agreement.
This means the various governments will be seeking a standardised purchase-sales agreement in the next round of negotiations with Venezuela.
DISCUSSED STATUS
Antigua and Barbuda's non-resident ambassador to Latin America, Joan Underwood, told the Antigua Sun that this decision was reached during a meeting of the OECS leaders held in Jamaica last week.
According to Underwood, the OECS heads decided that it would be useful for the various territories to come together and discuss their current status in relation to the implementation of the fuel purchase agreement with Venezuela.
She explained that as each country reported its progress, it became clear there was some disparity between the terms negotiated by the individual governments in their bilateral agreements with Venezuela.
DOCUMENTED DIFERENCES
"There has been some concern about how long this process has taken, but now we see that our deliberations have paid off, because when we look at the bilaterals for the various territories, we see that Antigua and Barbuda was able to negotiate some of the most favourable terms," she said.
Underwood said the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank had conducted an analysis of the PetroCaribe initiative, which documented some of the differences between the agreements that were negotiated by the various territories and highlighted the fact that, in several instances, Antigua and Barbuda stood to gain in ways that outstripped the other OECS countries.
