ST JAMES, Jamaica – Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell on Friday disclosed that a major PetroCaribe agreement for the region is to be inked shortly.

“It is going to be a massively new agreement to deepen the scope…,” said Paulwell, who was speaking with reporters following a Media Briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister in Montego Bay.

The agreement is expected to be inked during 10th Commemorative Summit of the PetroCaribe Agreement which is to be held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre this evening.

The Summit is to be attended by a slew of representatives from signatory countries to the agreement, including Jamaica’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

Paulwell said the existing agreement is evaluated annually and as a result, there is to be a further strengthening and deepening of the existing agreement.

“It is an agreement that is devaluated annually, and we have only recently done so. What we are doing now is to deepen PetroCaribe. There is a proposal that we are going to be discussing tomorrow (today) of the PetroCaribe economic zone. So, it is much more than just trade in energy. It is going to involve trade in fertiliser, cement…, Jamaica can offer language training, that is going to be a part of it,” stated Paulwell.

“We are going to be looking at transportation, because it is too difficult for us to travel in the region. We have to have more direct transfers, a whole range of issues apart from energy.”

Anthony Lewis