ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – Venezuela’s state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA will buy a 25 per cent stake in Antigua and Barbuda’s West Indies Oil Company as the first of many “joint investments” between the countries, President Nicolás Maduro says.

Caracas will also establish a regional bank with the twin-island nation to fund several projects, including a new Simon Bolivar Resort Hotel. Funds for that will come from the Petrocaribe programme.

Maduro announced those plans in Antigua yesterday, on one of the stops in his tour of the Caribbean that also includes Suriname, St. Lucia and Grenada.

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said that he and Maduro “agreed to work in various areas of cooperation”. In Grenada, it was announced that Venezuela would fund the construction of a new eye clinic.

Bron: CuracaoChronicle