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Presidents Hugo Chávez Frías, on behalf of the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Evo Morales Ayma,
on behalf of the Republic of Bolivia and Fidel
Castro Ruz, on behalf of the Republic of Cuba,
meeting in Havana on April 28 and 29, 2006, have
decided to sign the present Agreement for the
creation of the Bolivarian Alternative for the
Peoples of Our America (ALBA) and the Peoples’
Trade Agreements of our three countries.
General Provisions
Article 1:
The governments of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela, the Republic of Bolivia and the
Republic of Cuba have decided to take concrete
steps toward implementing the process of
integration, based on the principles contained in
the Joint Declaration, signed on the December 14,
2004, between the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
and the Republic of Cuba, which are hereby
accepted and embraced by the Government of
Bolivia.
Article 2:
The countries shall elaborate a strategic plan in
order to guarantee complementary products that can
be mutually beneficial based on the rational
exploitation of the countries’ existing assets,
the preservation of resources, the expansion of
employment, market access and other aspects
inspired in the true solidarity fostered by our
peoples.
Article 3:
The countries shall exchange comprehensive
technology packages developed in their respective
nations by the parties, in areas of common
interest, which shall be provided for their use
and implementation, based on the principles of
mutual benefit.
Article 4:
The countries shall work together, in coordination
with other Latin American countries, to eradicate
illiteracy in these nations, using efficient,
tried and tested methods of mass application,
which have been successfully used in the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
Article 5:
The countries agree to make investments of mutual
interest which could take the form of public,
binational, mixed or cooperative companies, joint
management projects or any other form of
association that they decide to establish.
Priority shall be given to the initiatives which
strengthen the capacity for social inclusion,
resource industrialization and food security, in a
framework of respect and preservation of the
environment.
Article 6:
In the case of strategic binational or trinational
companies, the parties shall do everything
possible, the nature and cost of the investment
permitting, to ensure that the host country hold
at least 51% of the shares.
Article 7:
The countries may agree to the opening of branches
of state banks of one country in the national
territory of another.
Article 8:
In order to facilitate the payments and charges
relating to the commercial and financial
transactions between the countries, Reciprocal
Credit Agreements shall be arranged between the
banking institutions appointed by the governments
to this effect.
Article 9:
The governments may use commercial compensation
mechanisms of goods and services, if and when this
is mutually convenient for the extension and
reinforcement of the commercial exchange.
Article 10:
The governments shall promote the development of
joint cultural projects which take into account
the particular characteristics of the different
regions and the cultural identity of the peoples.
Article 11:
The governments shall reinforce cooperation in the
field of communication, by taking any action
necessary to strengthen their infrastructure
capacities in respect of transmission,
distribution, telecommunications, etc; and in
respect of their informative, cultural and
educational contents production capacities. In
this regard, the governments shall continue to
support the space devoted to integrationist
communication created by Telesur, by increasing
its distribution in our countries, as well as its
contents production capacities.
Article 12:
The governments of Venezuela and Cuba acknowledge
the special needs of Bolivia as a country whose
natural resources were exploited and plundered
during the centuries of colonial and neo-colonial
rule.
Article 13:
The Parties shall exchange scientific and
technical know-how with the aim of aiding the
economic and social development of the three
countries.
Article 14:
Taking into account all of the above, the
Government of the Republic of Cuba, the Government
of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the
Government of the Republic of Bolivia, have agreed
upon the following actions:
Actions to be implemented by Cuba as part of its
relations with Bolivia in the framework of the
Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our
America and the Peoples’ Trade Agreements
FIRST:
To create a non-profit Cuban-Bolivian entity which
will provide free high quality ophthalmologic
surgeries to all Bolivian citizens lacking the
financial resources needed to cover the high cost
of this service, thus preventing tens of thousands
of poor Bolivians from loosing their sight or
serious and often crippling limitations to their
sight each year.
SECOND:
Cuba
shall supply the most advanced technology
equipment and the ophthalmologic specialists
required in the initial stage who, with the
support of young Bolivian doctors trained in the
Latin American School of Medical Sciences (ELAM),
working as doctors in residence, or other doctors
and residents from Bolivia or other countries,
shall offer attentive care to the Bolivian
patients.
THIRD:
Cuba shall pay the wages of the Cuban
ophthalmologic specialists working in the
framework of this action program.
FOURTH:
Bolivia shall provide the facilities necessary to
render this service, be they buildings already
used to provide healthcare or others adapted to
this purpose. Cuba shall increase the number of
ophthalmologic centres donated from three, the
number initially offered in the Bilateral
Agreement signed on December 30 of last year, to
six.
FIFTH:
The six centres shall be located in La Paz,
Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Sucre, Potosí and the town
of Copacabana in the La Paz region. Together they
shall have the capacity to operate on at least 100
thousand people each year. This capacity may be
increased should the need arise.
SIXTH:
Cuba hereby reaffirms its offer to provide Bolivia
with 5 thousand scholarships to train doctors and
specialists in General Integral Medicine or other
areas of Medical Science: 2 000 in the first
quarter of 2006, who are now receiving basic
training here in Cuba; 2 000 in the second
semester of this year, and 1 000 in the first
quarter of 2007. Over the subsequent years the
established quota shall be replenished with new
students. Included in these new scholarships are
some of the 500 young Bolivians who are already
studying Medicine in Schools of medical Science al
over Cuba.
SEVENTH:
Cuba shall prolong the stay of the 600 medical
specialists who travelled to Bolivia as a result
of the serious natural disaster which occurred in
January of this year, affecting all the regions of
the country, for as long as this sister nation
deems necessary. Furthermore, it will donate 20
field hospitals equipped with surgical facilities,
intensive care units, emergency services for
patients suffering of cardiovascular accidents,
laboratories and other medical resources, to be
sent to the areas hardest hit by this disaster.
EIGHTH:
Cuba shall continue to provide Bolivia with the
experience, didactic material and technical
resources necessary to implement the literacy
program in four languages: Spanish, Aymara,
Quechua and Guaraní, to be made available to all
sectors of the population in need.
NINTH:
With regards to the education sector, the exchange
and collaboration plan shall be extended to offer
help in the methods, programs and techniques of
the educational process of interest to the
Bolivian party.
TENTH:
Cuba will share its energy-saving experiences with
Bolivia and shall cooperate with this country on
an energy-saving program that could yield
significant convertible currency resources.
ELEVENTH:
During the investment recovery period, any state
investment, investments made by Bolivian mixed
companies or even those made with Bolivian private
capital in Cuba will be tax-exempt.
TWELVETH:
Cuba shall grant Bolivian airlines the same
facilities provided to their Cuban counterparts,
with regard to passenger transportation, freight
to and from Cuba and the use of airport services
or any other facilities, as well as the internal
transportation of passengers and freight within
Cuba.
THIRTEEN:
The exportation of goods and services from Cuba
may be paid for with Bolivian products, in the
national currency of Bolivia or in other
currencies mutually agreed upon.
Actions to be implemented by Venezuela as part of
its relations with Bolivia in the framework of the
Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our
America and the Trade Agreements between the
Peoples
FIRST:
Venezuela shall encourage extensive collaboration
in the energy and mining sector, including: the
institutional consolidation of the Ministry of
Hydrocarbon and Energy and of the Ministry of
Mining and Metallurgy of Bolivia, by way of
technical and legal assistance; the increase in
the supply of crude oil, refined products, LPG and
asphalt, envisaged in the Energy Cooperation
Agreement of Caracas, by the amount needed to
satisfy the internal demand of Bolivia.
Compensation mechanisms shall be established with
Bolivian products so as to completely cancel all
debts created by these services. Technical
assistance for the Bolivian Fiscal Oilfields (YPFB)
and COMIBOL shall also be established, as shall
the development of projects to adapt and extend
infrastructures as well as petrochemical, iron and
steel and chemical and industrial projects, and
any other form of cooperation agreed upon by the
parties.
SECOND:
During the investment recovery period, any state
investment or investments made by Bolivian mixed
companies in Venezuela shall be tax-exempt.
THIRD:
Venezuela hereby reaffirms its offer to provide
Bolivia with 5 000 scholarships in the different
areas of interest for the productive and social
development of the Republic of Bolivia.
FOURTH:
Venezuela shall create a special fund of up to 100
million dollars for Bolivia to use to finance
productive and associated infrastructure
projects.
FIFTH:
Venezuela will donate thirty million dollars to
look after the social and productive necessities
of the Bolivian people as decided by their
Government.
SIXTH:
Venezuela will donate asphalt and an asphalt
mixing plant to contribute to road construction
and maintenance.
SEVENTH:
Venezuela will notably increase the imports of
Bolivian products, especially those that
contribute to the increase of its strategic foods
reserves.
EIGHTH:
Venezuela will provide fiscal incentives in her
territory to projects of strategic interest to
Bolivia.
NINTH:
Venezuela will provide preferential facilities to
Bolivian aircraft on Venezuelan territory within
the permissible limits of her legislation.
TENTH:
Venezuela will place at Bolivia’s disposition the
infrastructure and equipment for air and sea
transportation in a preferential manner in order
to support the economic and social development
plans of the Republic of Bolivia.
ELEVENTH:
Venezuela will provide facilities for Bolivian
public or joint companies to establish themselves
for the transformation of raw materials, down
river.
TWELFTH:
Venezuela will collaborate with Bolivia in
research projects on biodiversity.
THIRTEENTH:
Venezuela will support Bolivia’s participation in
the promotion of endogenous development nuclei,
using the experience of
Mision Vuelvan
Caras.
FOURTEENTH:
Venezuela will develop agreements with Bolivia in
the field of telecommunications, which may include
the use of satellites.
Actions to be developed by Bolivia in its
relations with Cuba and Venezuela within the
framework of ALBA and TCP
FIRST:
Bolivia will contribute the export of her mining,
agricultural, agro-industrial, livestock and
industrial products as required by Cuba or
Venezuela.
SECOND:
Bolivia will contribute to the energy security of
our nations with its available surplus production
of hydrocarbons.
THIRD:
Bolivia will not charge utility taxes on any state
or mixed venture investments formed between
Bolivia and the Venezuelan and Cuban States.
FOURTH:
Bolivia will contribute its expertise in the study
of native peoples, both in theory and in research
methodology.
FIFTH:
Bolivia will participate together with the
governments of Venezuela and Cuba in the exchange
of experiences in the study and recovery of
ancestral knowledge in the field of natural
medicine.
SIXTH:
The government of Bolivia will actively
participate in the exchange of experiences in the
scientific research on natural resources and
genetic agricultural and livestock patterns.
Actions to be jointly developed by Cuba and
Venezuela in their relationship with Bolivia
within the framework of ALBA and TCP
FIRST:
The governments of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela and the Republic of Cuba will
immediately proceed to remove tariffs and other
non-tariff barriers that apply to all imports
within the tariff universe of Cuba and Venezuela
whenever the apply to products originating in the
Republic of Bolivia.
SECOND:
The governments of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela and the Republic of Cuba will guarantee
the purchase of amounts of oil-based products and
other agricultural and industrial products
exported by Bolivia, that may not have a market as
a result of the application of a Free Trade Treaty
or Treaties initiated by the government of the
United States or by European governments.
THIRD:
The governments of Venezuela and Cuba offer
financial, technical and human resource
collaboration to Bolivia so that a genuine
national Bolivian State airline may be
established.
FOURTH:
The governments of Venezuela and Cuba offer
Bolivia their collaboration in the development of
sports, including facilities for the organization
and participation in sports competitions, and
training centres in both nations. Cuba offers the
use of her facilities and equipment for the
control of anti-doping in the same conditions that
are offered to Cuban athletes.
FIFTH:
The governments of Cuba and Venezuela, in
coordination with Bolivia, will promote actions
needed to support the just Bolivian demand for the
unconditional cancellation of her foreign debt,
since it constitutes a serious obstacle to
Bolivia’s struggle against poverty and inequality.
New economic and social measures may be added to
this present Agreement by the three signing
Parties.
Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba will struggle for the
unity and integration of the peoples of Latin
America and the Caribbean.
Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba will struggle for
peace and international cooperation.
Evo Morales Ayma
President of the Republic of Bolivia
Hugo Chávez Frías
President of the Bolivarian Republic
of Venezuela
Fidel Castro Ruz
President of the
Council of State of the Republic of Cuba
Havana, April
29,2006. | 
