Saint Lucia, Venezuela Strengthen Ties With The Signing Of Three Agreements

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Saint Lucia strengthened a common road map framed in cooperation, complementarity and solidarity, by signing three agreements on Friday 6, October, 2023, on the occasion of the official visit of the Prime Minister of the Caribbean island, Hon. Philip J. Pierre, to Venezuelan soil.

The protocol ceremony for the signing of the agreements, from the Simón Bolívar Hall of the Miraflores Palace, included the signing of the document called Roadmap for the Development of Cooperation between the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Saint Lucia.

The instrument signed by the Minister of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Yván Gil Pinto and the Minister of External Affairs, International Trade, Civil Aviation and Diaspora Affairs of Saint Lucia, Hon. Alva Baptiste, is aimed at expanding bilateral cooperation through the preparation of joint proposals for the future and early signing of agreements in the areas of development, education, tourism, fishing, food sovereignty, air transportation and infrastructure.

“We have signed the roadmap and we have also established the action plan, a real concrete action plan, to produce food of Saint Lucia, in Venezuela, in a shared manner, to increase trade, to guarantee energy sovereignty, to support each other in education, tourism, culture, housing construction”, detailed the President of the Republic, H.E. Nicolas Maduro.

The intention is to design and implement programs and projects that will allow the implementation of cooperation activities in all sectors of common interest for the benefit of both peoples.

The second document is the Air Services Agreement between the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Saint Lucia, to promote an international air transportation system that offers fair and equitable opportunities to the respective airlines.

This agreement was signed by the Minister of People’s Power for Transportation, Hon. Ramón Celestino Velásquez Araguayán, and the Minister of Saint Lucia, Hon. Alva Baptiste.

This air services agreement will be active as of November. “Opening air operations and connecting Saint Lucia with Venezuela, Venezuela with Saint Lucia. We are joining the Caribbean, great news (…) and I am sure that these flights will be very successful and will increase the exchange of our peoples for tourism and to strengthen relations,” he said.

The third important aspect of this meeting in Caracas was the signing of the Joint Declaration between Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the Prime Minister of the Caribbean nation.

“With this declaration we ratify the principles of self-determination of the peoples, of Latin America and the Caribbean as a territory of the principles of cooperation, solidarity, brotherhood, mutual benefit, progressive and upward development of relations, the founding principles of our peoples,” ratified the Head of State.

With the signing of the three documents, bilateral cooperation is expanded under the premises of respect, defense of sovereignty, complementarity and cooperation.

“We have set out to turn the cooperative relationship of joint work and brotherhood between Saint Lucia and Venezuela into a model to be followed for relations with the entire Caribbean and other peoples, a relationship that is brilliant, that yields concrete results, that raises the quality of life of our people,” he said.

SOURCE: Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela