Leaders from Mexico, Colombia and Central America ended the one-day special Plan Puebla Panama (PPP) Summit in Mexico's Campeche on Tuesday with a promise to revitalize regional development.

They plan to launch the international licensing process for a new Central American oil refinery in November, said Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.

Zelaya said the refinery's products will be competitive on international markets and mentioned the possibility of joint efforts in Central America to develop offshore gas deposits.

His Guatemalan counterpart Oscar Berger Perdomo said Mexico will contribute 80,000 barrels a day (bpd) to the planned refinery instead of the 230,000 bpd as previously promised.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said his country, if it witnesses a stable or an increased oil production, could also make its contribution to the refinery. Colombia currently produces 514,000 to 523,000 bpd which could last until 2013.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said his country's reduced commitment to the refinery was due to the declining production at its largest oil field Cantarell.

"We want to give the refinery project viability with realistic alternatives while taking care of Mexico's own production and consumption," Calderon said, pointing out that Mexico had channeled 4.5 billion U.S. dollars to the region to boost PPP members' development.

He also said that the leaders attending the PPP had signed an agreement to create an electricity grid linking the whole region as a long-standing PPP plan.

Calderon said the PPP also planned to establish a digital superhighway and create a bio-diesel and bio-ethanol industry.

He also expressed his concerns over what he called the "porosity" of the Guatemala border, especially in the Peten region, which is being used as a stopover for drug trafficking.

"We have agreed to tackle the security problem together (as) we are facing international organized crimes" together, he said.

The leaders issued a nine-point declaration, saying they would improve the lives of their people, manage the sustainability of natural resources and protect the environment.

They also agreed to review the progress regularly and to invite international bodies such as the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, the European Union and the Ibero-American Organization to enrich the PPP agenda.

The summit gathered leaders of Mexico, Colombia, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama.

Source: Xinhua