Must Listen

Must Read

What Art Thinks

Pre-Millennialism

Today's Headlines

  • Sorry... Not Available
Man blowing a shofar

Administrative Area





Locally Contributed...

Audio

Video

Special Interest

Daily News
8877
“Single Currency a Step Closer for Alba Nations”
by Gao Xiaohui   
December 16th, 2009

The creation of a regional currency among Latin American countries drew closer over the weekend as Cuba agreed to pay for a shipment of Venezuelan rice in sucres – the new currency.

Cuba signed an agreement on Saturday to pay for the shipment in sucres, Rogelio Sierra, the nation's deputy foreign minister, was quoted by the AP as saying, without specifying what the shipment was worth.

The agreement came one day before members of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) trade group met for a two-day summit starting Sunday in Havana.

The trade bloc – founded by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2004 as a counterweight to the US-sponsored Free Trade Area of the Americas – agreed in October on the creation of the sucre to scale back the use of the US dollar.

The bloc comprises nine Latin American and Caribbean nations – Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Dominica, Honduras, Ecuador, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda.

The sucre would be rolled out beginning in 2010 in a non-paper form. With no printed or coin versions, the virtual currency will be used to manage debts between governments while reducing reliance on the US dollar and on Washington in general.

The currency, backed in April this year by the bloc, is named after Jose Antonio de Sucre, who fought for independence from Spain alongside Venezuelan hero Simon Bolivar in the early 19th century.

go back button