In this ERASMUS WILLIAMS photo St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Denzil L. Douglas (l) and the President of Venezuela, His Excellency Hugo Chávez Frias during the sigining ceremony at the Presidental Palace in Caracas, Venezuela on Friday.

During a three-day Official Visit to Caracas, President Chávez and Prime Minister Douglas on Friday analyzed the current status of the bilateral relations and discussed regional and multilateral issues of common interest.

“The Venezuelan President and the Prime Minister decided to strengthen the economic, commercial and cultural bonds between their countries and exchanged information on their national experience regarding the application of social programs designed to offer the appropriate opportunities to the excluded sectors of society. They reaffirmed their commitment to the implementation of actions in search of the eradication of poverty, the main threat to peace and countries development to guarantee social justice,” said a Joint Communique issued at end of discussions between Prime Minister Douglas and President Chávez and Cabinet Ministers.

President Chávez explained to Prime Minister Denzil Douglas, his proposal that established the International Humanitarian Fund, as a financial mechanism to support the efforts of developing countries to overcome poverty.  This initiative was enthusiastically received by the Prime Minister who committed himself to sustain common efforts and actions with a view to obtain the international support required for its implementation and strengthening.

The meeting agreed on the important role played by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in the region and emphasised the principles put forward by the organisation in its recent Inter-Sessional meeting in St. Kitts and Nevis, on March 26th and 27^th 2004, to consider the situation in Haiti, especially their call for an investigation under the auspices of the United Nations and the return to constitutional democracy.

President Chávez and Prime Minister Douglas reiterated the importance of trade to regional development and called for the early resumption of negotiations aimed at the renovation of the Trade Agreement between Venezuela and CARICOM.

“They underlined that the Organization of American States (OAS) has to focus its action towards the promotion of development in the Continent, therefore being necessary that OAS strengthens its mechanisms to help the efforts of its Member States to overcome poverty and social exclusion, for which they agreed to work together within the Organization for the approval of the Inter-American Social Charter,” said the Communique.

Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment with the multilateralism as a fundamental principle of international relations and expressed their support to the initiatives for the reform of the United Nations, taking into account the preeminence of this organisation in peacekeeping and international security, in the strengthening of the international cooperation and the promotion of economic and social development.

In this ERASMUS WILLIAMS photo St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Denzil L. Douglas (l) and the President of Venezuela, His Excellency Hugo Chávez Frias exchange signed copies of the Joint Communique during the sigining ceremony at the Presidental Palace in Caracas, Venezuela on Friday.

Both leaders also agreed to convene the First Meeting of the Permanent Mechanism of Political Consultation during the second semester of this year, with the purpose of keeping and deepening the political dialogue and to make a follow up to all cooperation projects of mutual benefit.

 A Venezuelan interdisciplinary mission will visit, at the earliest, Saint Kitts and Nevis in order to identify the cooperation projects in the areas of Education, Culture, Trade, Tourism, Telecommunications, Maritime and Air Transport, Agriculture and Health.

President Chávez and Prime Minister Douglas also recognized the important work of the Venezuelan Institute for Culture and Cooperation which contributes to the cultural an educational promotion and exchange between the peoples of both countries as well as the diffusion of the Spanish language.

“In order to reinforce the energy cooperation between the two countries, both leaders agreed to explore means for the implementation of The Caracas Energy Cooperation Agreement that takes into consideration the actual needs of St. Kitts and Nevis.

St. Kitts and Nevis and Venezuela acknowledged the serious threat to the region posed by drug trafficking and related crimes, and have agreed to deepen cooperation in this area and, to this effect, they gave instructions to the competent bodies of their respective countries to accelerate the negotiation of the new Cooperation Agreement.

Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas expressed his profound gratitude to President Hugo Chávez for the cordial hospitality and friendship offered to him and to his delegation during their visit to Venezuela.

Prime Minister Douglas was accompanied by Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Joseph Edmeade; Financial Secretary, Mr. Wendell Lawrence; St. Kitts and Nevis’ Ambassador to the Republic of Venezuela and High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago, His Excellency, Mr. Fred Lam; St. Kitts and Nevis’ High Commissioner to Jamaica and Ambassador to the Republic of Cuba, His Excellency, Mr. Cedric Harper, Venezuela’s Resident Ambassador to St. Kitts and Nevis, Her Excellency, Miriam Traconiz Luzardo and Press Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr. Erasmus Williams.