Riyadh.- The People’s Minister of Energy and Petroleum and President of PDVSA Rafael Ramírez branded the Ministerial Meeting held ahead of the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as highly profitable, as Venezuela proposed the other member countries to deal with political issues.

“We held a nice discussion… Now, the organization is stronger and we are dealing with very important topics. But, of course, the Heads of State have the last word,” said the Minister of Energy and Petroleum following the meeting.

While the draft resolution the ministers approved did not include Venezuela’s proposal to change OPEC quotes from US dollars to a different currency, Minister Ramírez said they had to wait for the final resolution to be adopted by the Heads of State and ∕ or Government that are meeting, after seven years, in the Third OPEC Summit, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The Venezuelan official conceded that the US dollar speculation and devaluation are “rendering the oil market more expensive.”

The President of Petróleos de Venezuela stressed that quoting OPEC oil basket prices in a currency different than the US dollar has been discussed in the organization for years, given the depreciation of the US currency.

During his speech, Minister Ramírez said, “There are political issues –rather than technical issues- we would like the Heads of State to consider. We have submitted to the Secretariat the guidelines of our proposals. I do not think that voicing the OPEC’s, the Heads of State’s and the Heads of Government’s political will to work in this mechanism is a technical issue.”

“I do not think this organization (the ministerial meeting) –which is not above the Conference of the Heads of State- could deal with two issues the Heads of State adopted in Caracas during the Second Summit (in September 2000). If the Heads of State believe that organizing a bank is not a feasible idea, they will have to make a decision. If the Heads of State think that cooperation among state companies or the creation of a university –which was the point- are not feasible ideas, then let them say so. What I feel is that we could not include in this declaration the topics that were approved in the previous declaration. This is as simple as the fact that this body (the ministerial meeting) cannot be above the will of the Heads of State and Government,” Ramírez explained.

The Minister insisted that both poverty and social problems in the world are issues of concern for the OPEC. Therefore, Venezuela is advocating the organization of a fund to deal with these two problems.

The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Hugo Chávez recently announced he would propose the Third OPEC Summit to create a humanitarian aid mechanism.

Ramírez added that the OPEC should unite to defend the member countries against any attempts at judging them for advocating their energy sovereignty.

The Kings, Heads of State and/or Government of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are discussing the summit’s final declaration on November 17-18.