CARACAS, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's former vice president and former foreign minister Jorge Arreaza has been named the new executive secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People's Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), the regional integration bloc announced Monday.
Arreaza will be in charge of carrying out the ALBA-TCP 2030 Strategic Agenda to "mark an extraordinary momentum in the alliance's comprehensive consolidation process in the years to come," the bloc said in a statement.
He will also be responsible for coordinating actions to revitalize the region's cooperation structure by promoting trade exchanges and the development of the logistics chain, as well as expanding air and maritime connectivity, and social inclusion programs, it said.
In addition, he will work to expand members, assets and credit capacity of the Bank of ALBA, reactivate the Petrocaribe energy alliance and promote its convergence with other regional development cooperation mechanisms.
The heads of state and government of ALBA-TCP thanked the outgoing executive secretary, Felix Plasencia from Venezuela, "for the excellent work" during his term.
Founded in 2004, the ALBA-TCP bloc currently groups 10 countries with the aim of reducing Latin America's reliance on Western aid by promoting intra-regional alliances and cooperation in key sectors such as energy and trade. ■