Grenada has announced that it will join the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of the Americas, known by its Spanish acronym ALBA.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell told the Government Information Service that the Grenada government has formally put in its application to become a member.
The Grenadian leader says it expects the process to take up to a month to finalise.
Another Eastern Caribbean country, St Kitts and Nevis also announced Tuesday that it is joining ALBA.
Already OECS member countries Antigua, Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines are members of the organization.
ALBA is an international cooperation organization based on the idea of the social, political and economic integration of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Prime Minister Mitchell said that the decision will help strengthen regional co-operation and integration.
“My feeling is the more cooperation we can get among the countries in the region, in particular in the context of the available of resources we can use to facilitate our development, to me is better.” He told the Government Information Service in Havana Wednesday.
“My own view is that we have nothing lose in joining ALBA,” he said.
He rejected the notion that ALBA is largely an ideological organisation.
“While we are members of many organisations, regional and international, we reserve the right as a country to take our own individual positions on issues,” he said.
“Being a member of ALBA does not prevent us taking any initiative as seen fit,” the Grenadian leader said.
Trade Minister Oliver Joseph said that the decision “is an important foreign policy development, as countries in the region more to ensure greater south-south co-operation.”
Joseph noted that Grenada is looking increasingly to such countries as Brazil to develop stronger trading ties.
Former Foreign Affairs Minister Peter David, who for years had advocated Grenada joining the organization, congratulated the Government “on its bold decision.”
“This is a clear declaration of what vision and leadership can do,” he said.
