The Prime Minister, Laurent Lamothe, at the head of a delegation composed among other of Pierre Richard Casimir, Minister of Foreign Affairs, of Rose-Anne Auguste, Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister in charge of human rights and the fight against extreme poverty, of Michaël Lecorps Director General of the Office of Monetization of the Programme of Development Assistance (BMPAD) and of Gamal Augustin, Deputy Director-General of Radio Television Nationale d'Haiti, was welcomed Wednesday afternoon by the Venezuelan authorities at the international airport of Caracas.

Laurent Lamothe and twenty Heads of State and Government participated the same day to an important meeting on the Petrocaribe agreement. Venezuela wanted to reassure the member countries on the continuation and strengthening of the program in an environment where the disease of the Bolivarian Republic leader raises doubts. The Venezuelan authorities have given a formal guarantee that the agreement would continue in the future whatever happens.

The Prime Minister met with the Vice-President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro around the Petrocaribe Agreement. For Haiti, this agreement is more than necessary, according to the Head of Government 90% of projects undertaken by the Haitian government are done thanks to Venezuelan cooperation "I hope that Hugo Chavez recovers quickly. Venezuela is a country that respects us and which is always there to help us."

Discussions were held around the following points :

• Improvement of the energy production in Haiti with the installation of three power plants with a total capacity of 60 megawatts ;

• Increase in rice production in the Artibonite Valley ;

• Strengthening of the Radio Television Nationale of Haiti ;

• Construction of social housing decent in several precarious neighborhoods ;

• Realization of basic social programs to fight against extreme poverty ;

• Construction of recreation centers in several towns, including Cite Soleil ;

The Prime Minister Lamothe and several Heads of State and of Government will attend this Thursday, a series of activities organized by the Government of Venezuela a sign of solidarity to the President Hugo Chavez still hospitalized in Cuba following a cancer.

HL/ HaitiLibre