Western Hemisphere
The presidents of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) will hold on Friday and Saturday in Bolivia their Seventh Extraordinary Summit in order to deepen economic, political and social integration in the block.

The presidential meeting, the fourth that the Bolivarian alliance is holding this year, will take place in the central city of Cochabamba with President Evo Morales as the host.

The rulers of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez; Ecuador, Rafael Correa, and Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, as well as the prime ministers of the Caribbean islands Dominica, Roosevelt Shkerrit; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves; and Antigua and Barbuda, Baldwin Spencer will attend the meeting.

The attendance of Raúl Castro, the President of Cuba, one of the founders of the integration block, has not been confirmed. Official sources said that Fernando Lugo, the Paraguayan president, who has been invited to join the Bolivarian group, has not either confirmed his attendance.

The ALBA member countries have also invited representatives of Uruguay, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Grenada and the Russian Federation.