Prime Minister Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit speaking at a ceremony on Wednesday to mark the seventh anniversary of the Petro Caribe Energy Agreement stated that the Petro Caribe Agreement brings a level of energy security to Dominica.
“The Government of Dominica will remain resolute in our support for Petro Caribe because we appreciate the importance of Petro Caribe to every single Dominican walking the streets of Dominica.”
This initiative has impacted heavily on a number of projects across the country including the Housing Revolution programme, the Salybia Primary School, the marine sea defence walls in ScottsHead, Soufriere and Tan Tan and the establishment of a plant in Jimmit has provided direct employment to 33 people and to over 200 people indirectly.
Since the inception of the agreement, the goal has been to facilitate the integration of Caribbean people through energy cooperation based on favourable, equitable exchange between the countries.
Prime Minister Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit noted that the Petro Caribe agreement has had a significant impact on the lives of people in Dominica and other regional countries.
“I can say without any fear of contradiction that the Petro Caribe Agreement is the life blood of many countries in the Caribbean and Latin America. I know of countries today that because of the global crisis are using the funds from Petro Caribe to pay the salaries of Public Officers. I know of countries today that are using the resources to meet their debt payment that they are unable to meet on a monthly basis and if we are to remove the PCA from the mix of financial consideration I would say that the challenges facing all of us the Caribbean would have been fourfold and I really want to express my gratitude to the vision of President Chavez and President Castro for initiating this very important Agreement.”