Trade volume between Cuba and Venezuela will reach 1.4 billion US dollars this year and 2.0 billion in 2006, Venezuelan Foreign Trade Minister Gustavo Marquez said on Tuesday.

On the second day of the 23rd International Fair of Havana, opened Monday, Marquez contributed the increase in bilateral trade volume to their agreements reached within the framework of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA).

The ALBA is a program launched by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to contend with the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), proposed by the United States. Cuba is the only country to have formally signed the ALBA.

The Venezuelan minister said the ALBA "is based on the political will, on the will to integrate ourselves, complement one another, create welfare for both nations, generate jobs and wealth without restrictions, but with a great solidarity spirit."

Marquez said Venezuela exports to Cuba 1.1 billion dollars worth of oil every year and 300 million dollars worth of food and other products.

Raul de la Nuez, Cuba's foreign trade minister, said his country will continue consolidating economic and commercial ties with Venezuela.

The American continent has overtaken Europe, Cuba's traditional supplier of products and investment, and become Cuba's largest trade partner, said De la Nuez. The trade volume between the American continent and Cuba now represents 49 percent of Cuba's total.

Source: Xinhua