OLADE'S MINISTRIES OF ENERGY MET IN QUITO

Quito, May 21- The V Meeting of Ministers of the Latin American Energy Organization was carried out in Quito, Ecuador, on May 17, 2013. The session was attended by the relevant participation of the Ministers and delegates from 21 Member Countries of the Organization: Argentina, Barbados, Plurinational State of Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

The session began with welcoming remarks by the Minister-President of the highest body of OLADE, Mr. Pedro Merizalde, Minister of Non-Renewable Natural Resources of Ecuador, who, in his welcoming remarks, highlighted the work of OLADE in the interest of regional energy integration. He also mentioned various integration projects in the region and the participation of Ecuador in the Andean electricity interconnection project.

The Ministerial Meeting was chaired by the Vice Minister of Hydrocarbons of Ecuador, Mr. Ramiro Cazar as acting Chairman of the meeting, accompanied by the Ambassador of El Salvador in Ecuador, as Vice president.

At the beginning of the session, tribute was paid to the memory of President Hugo Chavez, recalling his important contribution to regional integration processes and in particular to energy cooperation initiatives such as Petrocaribe. Similarly, the Meeting of Ministers greeted the Republic of Paraguay for the celebration of its Independence (14 May 15).

The Chairman of the Directive Committee, Energy Secretary of Argentina Mr. Daniel Cameron and the Executive Secretary, Dr. Victorio Oxilia presented management reports for the year 2012 which were approved unanimously and with congratulations from several delegations.

Mr. Daniel Cameron stressed the relevance of the major achievements, among them, the signing the cooperation agreement with the Government of Canada, a significant contribution to sustainable energy development in Latin America and the Caribbean. For his part, Dr. Oxilia highlighted the relevant insertion of OLADE in terms of technical cooperation in all processes and regional integration mechanisms: CARICOM, SICA, UNASUR and most recently CELAC.

Among the adopted Ministerial Decisions it was highlighted the Decision on Energy Integration and support to end Cuba's economic blockade by the United States of America.

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