TC Digital 25/06/2010

Freely translated by Anoosha Boralessa in 2015 for bilaterals.org

The Bolivarian FTA

The 10th Summit of ALBA concludes with an announcement that its members undertake to speed up the conclusion of a trade agreement.

The 10th ALBA summit concluded on Friday in the Ecuadorian city Otavalo with a statement that its eight member states undertake to expedite the conclusion of a trade agreement and to stop excluding indigenous peoples and Afro-Descendants.

The presidents of Venezuela (Hugo Chavez), Bolivia (Evo Morales) and Ecuador (Rafael Correa) participated in the summit. So did delegates from the other member states of ALBA: Cuba, Nicaragua, Antigua and Barbados, Dominica and San Vincent and the Grenadines.

The main points of the Otavalo Declaration are:

– ALBA reiterates its commitment to advance the construction of societies that are inclusive, culturally diverse and environmentally responsible; societies that reject the exploitation of human beings.

– It recognises the plurinational state, such as those that have emerged in Ecuador and Bolivia, as an expression of unity in diversity.

– It supports the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and the Durban Declaration and Program for Action against racism, xenophobia and intolerance.

– It confirms its commitment to implement a People’s trade agreement (TCP) and to construct an alternative model of economic sovereignty founded on a new financial architecture with mechanisms such as the ALBA Bank and ALBA Fund.

– It promotes a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth under the auspices of the United Nations so that life may proceed in harmony with nature and promote equity and autonomy.

– It calls for respect for Mother Earth by supporting initiatives such as the Yasuni- ITT proposed by Ecuador which foresees economic compensation for avoiding pollution.

– It declares that maintaining, administering and using non-renewable natural resources are roles of the State which guarantees social participation and the just and equitable distribution of profits.

– It supports the re-evaluation of the ancestral practice of chewing coca leaf and abolishing the prohibition from international instruments.