The Venezuelan government will not allow protests by oil workers or other unions during the OPEC summit in Caracas later this month, the head of the state oil giant PDVSA said Tuesday.
PDVSA president Hector Ciavaldini underscored that "the priority, on a national level, is to avoid any kind of strikes and protests to guarantee the safety of the heads of state who are coming to the country."
Ciavaldini said the strike called by the oil workers union Fedepetrol during the OPEC summit September 27 and 28, in the absence of a collective bargaining deal, "runs counter to the interests of the country, and this government will not accept it."
"They should think again if they think they are going to have a strike and the government is just going to stand idly by. It just cannot happen because we are going to have all of the heads of state of the OPEC countries and many ... foreign officials, and we have to guarantee the best climate" Ciavaldini said.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez invited OPEC member leaders to the first summit of the cartel since the one in Algiers in 1975; all other meetings have been attended by energy ministers.
Leaders from Qatar, Iraq, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Nigeria, Algeria, Indonesia, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were set to attend the Venezuelan-hosted gathering. Venezuela is OPEC's only Latin American member.
Non-OPEC countries sending delegations include Russia, Mexico, Angola, Oman and Norway.—AFP.
©Agence France Presse.
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
