The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, arrived on Thursday morning in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to participate in the 19th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP).
Upon arrival at the Simón Bolívar International Airport, the Dominican prime minister was welcomed by the Minister of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs, Jorge Arreaza; the Foreign Vice-minister for the Caribbean, Raúl Li Causi; and the ALBA-TCP Executive Secretary, Sacha Llorenti.
Caracas and Roseau have maintained close and friendly relations. In addition to ALBA-TCP, the two countries are members of other regional integration organizations such as Petrocaribe, the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
In the context of ALBA-TCP cooperation and solidarity, 20,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines were sent by Caracas on March 3 to immunize the population of the Commonwealth of Dominica against COVID-19 as part of the air bridge established by the Alliance with the financial support of the Bank of ALBA.
Dominica’s ALBA-TCP membership
The formerly known Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America was officially created on December 14, 2004, when then Presidents of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, and Cuba, Fidel Castro, met in Havana to endorse its foundation.
Later, Cuba and Venezuela were joined by Bolivia (2005) and Nicaragua (2007), following the victory of Evo Morales and Daniel Ortega in popular, democratic elections, and Dominica (January 2008) as the first English-speaking country to join the bloc.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda followed in 2009, and Grenada and Saint Kitts and Nevis in 2014.