US embassy cable - 05PARAMARIBO737

UNCLAS PARAMARIBO 000737 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CAR, WHA/EPSC, EB/ESC/IEC/ENR, INR 
DEPT PASS USTR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG, ETRD, ECON, PREL, PGOV, NS 
SUBJECT: SURINAME'S REACTION TO THE SUMMIT OF AMERICAS 
CONFERENCE, FREE TRADE AREA OF THE AMERICAS AND PETROCARIBE 
 
1. (U) Commenting on the Summit of the Americas (SOA) on 
his return from Argentina, Surinamese President Venetiaan 
remarked that for the first time, the final declaration 
included consideration of the position of small countries 
with weak and vulnerable economies, such as those of the 
CARICOM member states.  He characterized this inclusion, 
supported by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, as a victory for 
CARICOM.  Venetiaan described the atmosphere during the 
Summit as tense and controversial, and noted that 
Venezuelan President Chavez was out to undermine support 
for FTAA. Venetiaan added that he favors resumption of the 
Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations in 
early 2006. He lamented that while the EU continues to 
build a much stronger trade block, the Americas are still 
fighting over which direction trade integration should 
follow.  He observed that small economies have less luxury 
to engage in debate that delays successful integration than 
countries with large domestic markets like Brazil, 
Venezuela, and Argentina. 
 
2. (SBU) In a meeting last week with the Minister of 
Foreign Affairs, Lygia Kraag-Keteldijk, the Ambassador 
again heard of Suriname's satisfaction that the final 
declaration of the SOA included consideration of smaller 
economies.  On the topic of PetroCaribe, the Minister 
remarked that although Suriname had signed a "framework" 
document with Venezuela, it had not yet negotiated a final 
bilateral agreement under which specific commitments and 
responsibilities were enumerated. Ambassador attempted to 
engage the Minister on how the PetroCaribe agreement could 
limit the number of suppliers of gasoline available to 
Suriname, but the Minister maintained that the agreement 
would not limit Suriname's choice of suppliers in any 
manner.  The Minister recognized that the agreement was 
mainly a "financial facility" and with a degree of 
reluctance agreed with Ambassador Barnes's assertion that 
it would mean greater indebtedness for Suriname. 
 
3. (SBU) Comment: The Minister's remarks suggest that 
Suriname harbors a perhaps overly optimistic assessment of 
the cost and benefit balance of the PetroCaribe agreement. 
But in any case, against a backdrop of apparent active 
Surinamese interest in PetroCaribe and Venezuelan overtures 
generally, we find President Venetiaan's take on trade 
integration trends interesting.  His comments in favor of 
FTAA, casting the trade interests of small and large Latin 
American countries as divergent, would appear to put 
Suriname in opposition to the Venezuelan position on the 
FTAA/Mercosur divide. End comment. 
 
BARNES 
 
 
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