Above: St Lucia

By the Caribbean Journal staff

St Lucia has officially become a full member of the Venezuela-led ALBA Alliance.

St Lucia acceded to the regional grouping at the end of July at the ALBA Presidential Summit in Ecuador.

“I would like to officially welcome Saint Lucia as a full member of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA),” said Venezuelan Ambassador to St Lucia Leiff Escalona. “I would also take this opportunity to acknowledge the teams of Venezuela and Saint Lucia for their hard work last week towards the initiatives to start the activation of PetroCaribe.”

St Lucia said it could now purchase oil on concessionary terms through PetroCaribe, which also has its own development arm.

Escalona said St Lucia Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony was “active” in his work to join ALBA.

“By joining ALBA the benefits for Saint Lucia will be determined for advancement in economic, cultural, social and in other areas because it is possible to create joint projects that will work for the development of communities throughout Saint Lucia for example the possible formation of musical collaborations and music scholarships in Venezuela and Saint Lucia,” Escalona said.

Antigua and Barbuda, Cuba, Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines are the other Caribbean members of ALBA.