The countries represented by the Heads of State and Governments of Petrocaribe and the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of our America (ALBA), hereby designated as “the Parties”.

REAFFIRMING the principles of complementarity, cooperation, solidarity, and sovereignty in the search of solutions to reach the necessary Agricultural and Integral Rural Development in the countries of the region that will make possible Food Security and Sovereignty of our people, working jointly and uniting their efforts and will, in the spirit of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of our America as the integration component.

 

UNDERSTANDING Food Security as the sufficient and stable food availability and the timely and permanent access to it by our people.

 

CONSIDERING that Food Sovereignty is defined as the right of the peoples, their countries, or state association to define its food policies with third-party nations, leaving behind disloyal international trade policies and avoiding the production of food for generating fuel.

 

INTERESTED in increasing as soon as possible agricultural production so as to alleviate hunger and malnutrition, and decrease once and for all the current levels of poverty of our nations, which are aggravated by the high cost of food and the decision of some countries in converting them into fuels.

 

CONSIDERING the strategic, social and human importance of efficient mechanisms for the region, guided by solidarity, aimed at guaranteeing Food Sovereignty and Security of the peoples, implementing concrete actions that guarantee timely, adequate and stable supplies of basic foods at a just price. 

RECOGNIZING the necessity of supporting integral agricultural development plans and productive projects as a strategy to confront the food crisis that affects our people, by strengthening domestic production in each country.

 

HAVING IN MIND the urgency to rely on a new conception of exchange, with scientific and technical cooperation, of productive integration, and with access to fundamental productive inputs and of investments for food production.

 

RATIFYING the interest and political will to propel sustainable food production, as expressed in the Meeting of Heads of State and Governments, celebrated in Maracaibo, Venezuela on the 13^th of July, 2008, whereby the Council of Agricultural Ministers was created and appointed as the permanent authority of the Petroleum Fund for the Production of Food initiative, which in turn had its first reunion in Tegucigalpa, Honduras on the 30^th of July, 2008.

 

CONSIDERING That the Petroleum Fund will be directed at financing programs and projects for the production and innovation of the agricultural sector for member countries in the region in the aims of combating the food crisis, fostering rural integral development, sustainable food production, and transformation distribution and exchange processes, under the principles of solidarity, complementarity, cooperation, social justice, reciprocity, and equality.

 

UNDERTAKING not to utilize the food coming from these funds for the production of agrofuels.

 

They may subscribe to the following,

 

The present agreement has the objective of establishing an institutional framework in order to create the regional initiative ALBA-FOOD, and co-support the development of a region-wide program that is primarily supported by cooperation, complementarity and exchange that contributes in guaranteeing Food Security and Sovereignty of its members.

 

The objective of the present Agreement will be achieved through the:

 

1. Development of actions within the framework of the ALBA-FOOD initiative, which will induce elevated food production of a sustainable manner for the national supply of each member. Surpluses will be redistributed through proper mechanism of distribution and exchange between the members of PETROCARIBE and ALBA and the conditions agreed upon.

2. Orientation of initiatives for the strengthening of organized or non-organized productive sectors, including farming communities, indigenous peoples, and of the afro-descendant community. 

The agreement, through ALBA – FOOD, as an institutional framework of food policies and planning, will provide the creation of projects oriented to the sustainable food production under the principles of rational and efficient use of natural and energy resources of the countries in the region, which will directly benefit its inhabitants in increasing their standards of living. For the latter they have proposed:

 

 

a) The establishment of strategies for the proper use, operation, and conservation of the soil, water, agricultural biodiversity at both national and regional levels, with productive ends.

b) The conservation, stimulation, and development of a system for exchange and secure reproduction of plant and animal genetic resources between members of PETROCARIBE and ALBA.

c) The establishment of a system for the production and exchange of reproductive materials (botanical and agamical seeds) coming from the main crops of each member country of PETROCARIBE and ALBA.

d) The establishment of a system for the production and exchange of large-scale and small-scale livestock.

e) The establishment of plant and animal-based strategies at national and regional levels.

f) The development of integral programs and projects for the production of basic foodstuff: rice, corn, beans, oil seeds, vegetables, fruits, meat, milk, and others that may be decided upon between countries in the region.

g) The development of integral programs for the management, benefit, conservation, and transformation of agricultural projects.

h) The development of agro-industrial capacities.

i)  The development and strengthening of support infrastructures for agricultural production.

j)  The development of a system for the creation and strengthening of technical assistance, training, exchange of experience, innovation, science and technology, at national and regional level.

k) Lastly, the establishment of different distribution and exchange systems, based on the principles of fair trade.

 

 

This study will be carried out with the intention of minimizing the negative effects, in most of the countries in the region, of costs associated with the production of food, mostly arising from the use of inappropriate technologies as well as geopolitical and speculative factors, so that countries can take advantage of the economic, social, and cultural complementarity and thus decrease asymmetries between them. It was adopted to:

 

a) Set up the agricultural scheme of the region and the necessary strategic plan for its development.

b) Propel and/or exchange the agricultural scheme of each country.

c) Evaluate the efficiency of the chains of production in the principal agricultural primary commodities.

d) Estimate the impact of the costs of food invoices.

e) Study the nature and magnitude of risks in relation to the local, regional, and international environment, such as those linked to global warming, for agricultural production.

f)  Determine the infrastructure and logistics associated with the agricultural scheme.

 

ALBA-FOOD is made up of the following decision-making committees:

 

I. - The Summit of the Heads of State and Governments of PETROCARIBE and ALBA.

II. - The Council of Ministers of Agriculture or its equivalent in each member nation of the ALBA-FOOD initiative.

III.- Technical Executive Secretariat.

IV.- Grand–National ALBA-FOOD Enterprise.

 

The administration, functioning, and powers of the decision-making committees, as established in the present Agreement, will be governed according to the statutes of ALBA-FOOD contained in the Annex I of the present Agreement.

 

These committees will establish mechanisms for consultation and participation with organized and non-organized productive sectors, such as farming communities, indigenous peoples, and afro-descendants, for the development and execution of projects within the framework of the present initiative.

 

The necessary funding to put forth the programs, actions, and projects of the ALBA-FOOD framework, with the aims of contributing to the advancement of Food Security and Sovereignty of our peoples, will come from:

 

a) The Petroleum Fund for the Production of Food, in the framework of the PETROCARIBE initiative.

b) The credits that will be administered or negotiated,

c) From received donations,

d) Recovered returnable finances,

e) Other received funds incorporated for the same ends.

 

These resources will be deposited in the ALBA Bank and will be administered in accordance with the clauses in this Agreement.

 

The head office of ALBA-FOOD will be in the city of Caracas, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

 

The official languages of the ALBA-FOOD Initiative will be English, French, and Spanish.

 

 

Doubts and/or controversies that could arise in relation to the interpretation and application of the present Agreement will be resolved in a pacific manner, resorting to direct negotiations between the Parties, through a diplomatic channel.

 

 

 

The Minister of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela will be the main depositary of the present Agreement, in whose power the original instrument will be administered and with the duty of forwarding a certified copy to each of the Members.

 

Likewise, it will notify each of the Members when the present Agreement and its amendments take effect.  

 

The present agreement can be amended through the consensus of its Members. With this in mind, Members can propose amendments or revisions in writing, which can be forwarded to the depositary of the current Agreement, who will immediately communicate proposals to the rest of the Parties, which should be submitted within a period of three (3) months for considerations.

 

Once consensus is reached regarding proposals, they will be forwarded to the Ministerial Council for their definitive approval.

 

The amendments will take effect as shown in the Article IX.

 

The present Agreement will be open for the signatures of the member nations of PETROCARIBE and ALBA at the head office of the depositary from the date of subscription until the Agreement comes into effect.

 

After this date, the adhesion of other member nations of PETROCARIBE and ALBA will remain open, which then will deposit their respective instruments of adhesion to the depositary. For these nations, however, the Agreement will come into effect thirty (30) days after the date of depositing their respective instruments of adhesion.

 

The present Agreement will be subject to ratification and it will commence on the date on which the depositary receives the instruments of ratification from at least a fourth of the Nations subscribed to the Agreement, and will remain valid for a period of five (5) years, automatically extended for consecutive periods.

Any Member will be able to denounce the present Agreement through written notification and directed to the depositary, who will duly notify the rest of the Members. Denunciation will take effect six (6) months after the date that the notification was received.

 

Denunciation of the present Agreement will not affect the implementation of its programs, actions, and projects which are underway, unless the Parties agree otherwise.