Western Hemisphere President Hugo Chávez on Wednesday initialed an agreement under which Ecuador, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda officially joined the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA).

The Venezuelan ruler highlighted the "historic significance" of the adhesion of these three countries upon opening the plenary session of the 6th Extraordinary Summit of ALBA, Efe reported.

When opening the summit, Chávez reminded that that ALBA is marking its fifth anniversary next December, adding that the group has held six extraordinary summits and six regular summits.

"We have established this space progressively and today we are holding this meeting on the anniversary of the battle that sealed the independence of Venezuela from the Spanish empire. We are making the adhesion of three new member States official," he added.

In this way, ALBA now comprises nine full members (Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominica, Ecuador, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda) and two observers, namely Paraguay and Grenada.

Before the opening session of the summit, the leaders of the 11 countries attended a parade where military officers from Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua and Bolivia took part. The parade was held in Carabobo Battlefield, central Carabobo state.

Chávez said his country was honored by the presence of the presidents of Ecuador, Rafael Correa; Bolivia, Evo Morales, and Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, as well as the Cuban Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura.

The parade was also attended by the prime ministers of the Caribbean islands of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit; St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves; and Antigua and Barbuda, Baldwin Spencer, in addition to foreign ministers of Grenada, Peter David; Paraguay, Héctor Lacognata, and Honduras, Patricia Rodas.