![\"\"](\"http:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/alba.jpg\" "\\"alba\\"")
LA PAZ, Bolivia — Culture ministers from the countries that make up the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our Americas (ALBA), including a number from the Caribbean, are holding their 14th regional meeting in La Paz, Bolivia, to evaluate the advancement and challenges of the integration bloc in this social field.<\/p>\n
Press official Silvana Saavedra told PL news agency that the ministerial meeting will address actions for a better performance of the regional bloc in the cultural area. Based on the countries\u00b4 experience in the field, the ministers will discuss the need for a bigger contribution by the culture sector to political, social and economic process underway in this continent, Saavedra explained.<\/p>\n
The meeting\u00b4s agenda includes the setting up of a technical-juridical working team in charge of drawing up an accord that waives customs tariffs linked to production, purchase and distribution of goods and services among ALBA countries. Another aspect is the creation of ALBA cultural centers where they are not yet been set up, since they have been opened only in Cuba and Venezuela.<\/p>\n
Other issues on the agenda are the preparations for the 1st ALBA Cultural Festival that would be held every two years.<\/p>\n
The meeting is being attended by culture ministers from Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela. The conference takes place prior to the 18th Forum of Latin American and Caribbean Culture Ministers, slated to take place in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LA PAZ, Bolivia — Culture ministers from the countries that make up the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our Americas (ALBA), including a number from the Caribbean, are holding their 14th regional meeting in La Paz, Bolivia, to evaluate…","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":40195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n