Dear Presidents, Prime Ministers and Delegation Chiefs:

I would like to welcome you to Cienfuegos, a city in the center of Cuba known not only for its history and struggling nature but also for its progress in the past 45 years which has ranked it among the most developed and promising cities in the country.

Today we are holding a significant meeting for the nations in the Caribbean basin.
While oil prices are breaking records, creating a very complex situation for most third world nations who are energy importers, the member countries of PETROCARIBE are in a privileged position. They enjoy a mechanism that allows them to have access in a preferential way and at fair prices to energy resources that guarantee the development and daily life of our peoples.

For this reason, it is necessary for this initiative, which is a result from the spirit of solidarity of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its President, Hugo Chavez Frias, to continue consolidating itself and developing all its components.

The worldwide situation and effects of the policies followed by great industrialized nations unavoidably lead us to reflect and compare. There is no doubt that the growing consumption of industrialized nations has had and will have a devastating effect on the planet if we do not stop it.

This consumption, wasteful and polluting, has led in a few years to the depletion of many hydrocarbon sources that nature accumulated in the course of hundreds of millions of years. It has also led to climate change, which is nowadays a source of great concern, and could wipe entire nations off the surface of the Earth. It has also led to wars because oil control has caused the invasion and occupation of foreign territories, and these perils still exist.

The current consequences of this consumption patterns are as worrisome as the attempts of industrialized nations to export them to our nations, to turn us into wasteful and polluting societies such as theirs, into worldwide nature predators.

Recent events in Bali, during the Conference of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol, is a clear demonstration that there are governments -in particular the government of the most wasteful and polluting nation- that are not willing, not even to save the human kind, to give up the privileges they have enjoyed for centuries by forceful means and by looting the natural resources belonging to countries of the South.

In view of this situation, schemes such as PETROCARIBE become very relevant because they are not only designed and operate to guarantee the energy security of their members, but they also work to promote sustainable development.

Cuba adds to the energy security component another central element: savings. In past years we have successfully worked to design and implement an energy savings policy that has allowed us to use hydrocarbons rationally and increasingly more efficiently.

We have implemented a true Energy Revolution that has resulted in experiences successfully applied by several brother countries, and made available to PETROCARIBE thanks to the sharpness, ingenuity and perseverance of our partner Fidel.

As some of our guests already know, we have enlarged the generation capacity with accompanying gas that was previously burnt, and we have contributed to mitigate environmental pollution in a very important area of the country.

Another key element of this creation is the development of a program to generate distributed electric power with fuel consumption levels lower than those previously used by thermoelectric plants. We have also installed over 4,000 emergency generators in key centers that can now operate outside the national electric power system if necessary.

Simultaneously, we have implemented national projects that will generate savings in the population by substituting en masse high energy consumption household appliances and light bulbs for more efficient ones.

Furthermore, we continue working to develop renewable energy sources including wind, biomass, hydro and solar energy, which are increasingly being applied in our nation. Solar energy has been particularly useful to supply electricity to remote areas and for schools, households and other facilities.

31 projects to substitute fluorescent light bulbs for energy saving ones in 13 member countries of PETROCARIBE had been implemented by the end of November of this year. This made possible the saving of important energy resources that would have required an increase in energy generation and fuel acquisition.

Similarly, there are countries herein represented that are also developing projects to build, assemble and implement a new generation of over one thousand megawatts using diesel and fuel oil generators to restore electric networks, train technicians and specialists, organize the operation and maintenance of electric power plants, and evaluate the use of renewable energy sources and energy potential, among others.

We are confident that this Summit will further contribute to the consolidation of this highly beneficial agreement to the interests of our nations.

Considering the current international situation, thanks to the solidarity of the Bolivarian Venezuela, PETROCARIBE is a lot more than a fair solution to the serious energy problem of small countries that lack their own hydrocarbon sources. Above all, this agreement represents a decisive step so that we can continue developing regional integration and cooperation efforts.

Consequently, Cuba will continue to provide in the most modest and selfless way anything possible to this noble and strategic undertaking. We firmly believe in solidarity, cooperation and joint capacity to develop ourselves to achieve welfare for our peoples.

Thank you very much.