ALBA and Petrocaribe, a regional mechanism to supply poor Caribbean nations with oil through soft credit and other preferential deals, hammered out at a meeting last week a plan of action to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty, said Deputy Foreign Minister Valdrack Jaentschke.

　　The forum served to establish the mechanisms needed to improve productivity, promote food self-sufficiency and lift the community out of extreme poverty, Jaentschke said in a broadcast aired by the state-owned Channel 4.

　　He noted that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) agreed to back the efforts of ALBA nations to eradicate hunger and poverty with technical support.

　　The plan could help turn Latin America into an area that would be "free of hunger" over the next decade, said FAO representative to the ALBA-Petrocaribe meeting Raul Benitez.

　　Petrocaribe, with 17 members plus Venezuela, agreed to fund the plan with more than 60 million U.S. dollars in the next five years.

　　Founded by Venezuela and Cuba in 2004, ALBA has been aimed at promoting social, political and economic integration of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. It currently has nine member states.