http://www.boston.com/dailynews/098/world/Venezuela_Mexico_Colombia_reac:.shtml

Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia reach oil cooperation pact

By Associated Press, 4/8/2001 21:50

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Oil producers Venezuela, Mexico and Colombia on Sunday announced an accord to help dampen fluctuations in petroleum prices.

The pact, signed during a summit of the three countries' presidents in Caracas on Sunday, commits them to share information ''with the purpose of promoting joint actions to help the stabilization of the energy markets.''

The agreement is part of efforts by Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Vicente Fox of Mexico and Andres Pastrana of Colombia to revive a 6-year-old trade bloc called the Group of Three.

''It's not a new (price) band or a new policy. It's simply the reaffirmation of the same Mexican-Venezuelan commitment, but that now incorporates Colombia,'' said Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda.

By cooperating on energy policies, Fox said he envisioned a streamlined energy production and delivery system eventually connecting North and South America.

The three presidents agreed to ask the Inter American Development Bank and other financial institutions to support such a project.

Venezuela, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, reduced production April 1 as part of an overall cartel production cut of 1 million barrels a day to strengthen world oil prices. Non-OPEC member Mexico supported the move by reducing its own production.

Venezuelan Oil Minister Alvaro Silva Calderon said Saturday OPEC was hoping to prevent a global recession and seasonal drop in demand from producing a price crash. OPEC meets in June to determine if more cuts are needed.

Crude oil for May delivery fell 20 cents to $27.06 a barrel in Friday's trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price is still well within OPEC's target range of $22 to $28 a barrel.

Colombian Finance Minister Juan Santos said last month that Colombia would increase its oil production from 620,000 barrels a day to 1 million.

Mexico and Venezuela, meanwhile, have jointly provided oil at subsidized prices to Central American and Caribbean countries under the so-called San Jose Pact.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

Answers

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/098/world/Group_of_Three_promises_to_t ak:.shtml

Group of Three promises to take care of the poor in free trade movement

By Alexandra Olson, Associated Press, 4/8/2001 12:25

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela are considering a social fund to combat poverty and promise not to ignore the poor as the countries prepare to dismantle trade barriers, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Sunday.

''It's an extraordinary idea (designed) to inject much more social content into the process of integration,'' Chavez said. ''What do we do with the poor? Keep excluding them from all (trade) agreements? No. There can be no integration accord that excludes them because it won't work.''

Chavez spoke after he and his Mexican and Colombian counterparts, Vicente Fox and Andres Pastrana, visited the ornate tomb of 19th century South American liberator Simon Bolivar on Sunday.

The two leaders were in Caracas for a summit aimed at reviving a 6- year-old trade pact dubbed the Group of Three.

Chavez long has emphasized that rampant globalization and a quarter century of democratic government have failed to alleviate Latin American poverty. Half of Venezuela's 24 million people live below the poverty line.

Rioting this weekend during a Latin finance ministers meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, underscored popular anger as North and South American leaders prepare for the Summit of the Americas April 20-22 in Quebec City, Canada.

Chavez said the three leaders discussed ways to fashion a Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, or FTAA, without further impoverishing Latin America.

Many fear the FTAA will throw millions out of work by forcing struggling farmers and businesses in South America to compete against their northern counterparts, who often receive state subsidizes.

In Buenos Aires, negotiators from 34 countries agreed Saturday to launch an FTAA by December 2005, which would create a single $1.3 trillion market from Alaska to Argentina.

Chavez said the new social fund would, in part, provide credits to small businesses and would-be entrepreneurs. He added the presidents want to provide more generic medicines to help millions who cannot afford branded prescription drugs.

The leftist Chavez insists that Latin nations strengthen their regional alliances before joining the FTAA.

''You can't even think about FTAA without strengthening Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations. Doing otherwise would lead to regional disintegration,'' he said Saturday.

Mercosur is composed of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and associate members Bolivia and Chile. The Andean Community of Nations includes Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.

Unlike Chavez, Fox and Pastrana are more open to dismantling trade barriers though Fox expressed support for those countries, including Venezuela, that want to do it slowly.

''Our region continues to be among the most unequal in the world: 220 million Latin Americans live in poverty, 40 million of them in Mexico,'' Fox said. ''Our educational systems, as well as our scientific and technological abilities, are far from meeting the demands of the emerging information society.''

For Fox, the summit was a chance to introduce Mexico, Latin America's second largest economy after Brazil, as a regional ''big brother.'' Fox wants to use the Mexico's membership in North America Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, with Canada and the United States to position the country as a bridge for nations seeking access to the U.S. market.

Colombia, meanwhile, is eager to conclude FTAA talks and was miffed when Venezuela, which holds the rotating presidency of the Andean Nations trade bloc, unilaterally announced last week it wants to join Mercosur.

The Group of Three was created in 1995 to establish a free trade zone but has struggled because of neglect and banking crises in Mexico and Venezuela. Still, trade has risen by 50 percent to $3.2 billion.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

I've often wondered why we don't pursue crude oil purchases from these countries. They're on our own continent, and the money spent may benefit the peoples, providing jobs, etc, slowing illegal immigration into our country.

Dennis

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001