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VENEZUELA - Without Dollars

* VENEZUELA

Without Dollars
The ALBA countries will replace U.S. currency as payment

The countries of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) will approve, at the next summit to be held in Bolivia, the use of the Sucre as a means of international payment. The Sucre (Single Regional Compensation System) will operate, in principle, to honor the commitments among the member countries of the alliance - Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda - but it is expected that it can, in the future, function like the Euro in the European Union. "That means winning at economic sovereignty and monetary policy," said Huascar Ajata, Bolivia’s Vice Minister of Domestic Trade and Exports. The treaty establishing the future currency will be signed at the presidential meeting to be held in Cochabamba in central Bolivia. The block was created by Venezuela and Cuba in 2004 as an alternative project to the free trade agreement, promoted by the U.S. in the region, and to consolidate an alliance of like-minded governments.
13-Oct-2009 06:10pm