ALBA meeting in Guayaquil

The 12th meeting of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) is being held today for the first time in Guayaquil, with the participation of the member countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ecuador and Venezuela.

The topics of the meeting will include:

• Strengthening the use of Regional Clearance Unitary System (Sucre).
• The current role of international arbitration centers.
• 500 delegates from social organizations will participate on a debate on the audit of bilateral investment treaties.
• Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa will insist with the reforms on the Inter-American System of Human Rights and to change the headquarters of the American Commission, which is in Washington, USA.

The summit, which is the first to be held without the presence of deceased Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, was inaugurated by President Correa at 10:00 am in the halls of the Hilton Colon Hotel, along with the delegations and presidents, who began arriving in Guayaquil since yesterday afternoon.

Presidents of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, of Bolivia, Evo Morales, and of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, are going to participate in the 12th meeting of the ALBA in Guayaquil.