ROSEAU, Dominica (AP):

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez opened a fuel storage facility on this poor island of Dominica on Friday, as part of a programme offering Caribbean countries fuel on generous terms.

"We are one nation - the Caribbean nation," Chavez told Dominican leaders in the capital of Roseau, where representatives of the two governments signed agreements on cooperation in tourism, education and other fields. "Let's get together, truly."

Under its PetroCaribe initiative, Venezuela has sent petroleum products and other aid to needy Caribbean countries to help them counter rising energy prices. Recipients are offered deferred payment and long-term financing for fuel shipments.

Region's poorest nations

Dominica - one of the region's poorest nations, with an economy based on fading agriculture and tourism - has received asphalt, fuel storage tanks, university scholarships and US$12 million for housing.

The new storage facility, just north of Roseau, contains six tanks for gasolene, diesel, jet fuel and liquefied natural gas.

PetroCaribe is widely seen as an effort by Chávez - long at odds with Washington - to make inroads in a region where the United States is a major trading partner.

But Foreign Minister Charles Savarin said the former British colony's close ties to Caracas do not signal any distancing from Washington.

"Our relationship with Venezuela does not adversely affect our relationship with any other country," Savarin told local DBS radio. "We are friends with the United States."

During Chávez's one-day visit, officials also planned to discuss a proposed US$80 million refinery that would process some 10,000 barrels a day and have enough capacity to export refined oil.

Earlier this week, the Barbados-based Caribbean Conservation Association urged Dominica to reject the proposal, but Venezuela has said it will not harm the lush, mountainous nation that bills itself as the "nature island of the Caribbean."

Chávez was scheduled to travel to nearby St. Vincent to open another fuel storage facility on Saturday.