HAVANA – The Government of Grenada has formally put in its application to become a member of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of the Americas (ALBA).
According to Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell, the decision to join the organization will help strengthen regional cooperation and integration.
The Grenadian leader says the process is expected to take up to a month to finalize.
“My feeling is the more cooperation we can get among the countries in the region, in particular in the context of the available of resources we can use to facilitate our development, to me is better…my own view is that we have nothing to lose in joining ALBA,” he said.
He rejected the notion that ALBA is largely an ideological organization.
“While we are members of many organisations, regional and international, we reserve the right as a country to take our own individual positions on issues,” he said.
“Being a member of ALBA does not prevent is taking any initiative as seen fit,” the Grenadian leader said.
Trade Minister Oliver Joseph said the decision “is an important foreign policy development, as countries in the region move to ensure greater south-south co-operation.”
Joseph noted that Grenada is looking increasingly to such countries as Brazil to develop stronger trading ties.
Former Foreign Affairs Minister Peter David, who for years had advocated Grenada joining the organization, congratulated the Government “on its bold decision.”
“This is a clear declaration of what vision and leadership can do,” he said.
On Tuesday, St Kitts and Nevis also announced plans to join ALBA which is an international cooperation organisation based on the idea of the social, political and economic integration of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The other members of ALBA in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), are Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines. (CMC)