Latin American oil producers, including main exporters such as Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico, asked to take the necessary steps to stabilize the global crude market in a bid to improve prices for the benefit of the producing and consuming countries. In a meeting held during the first week of April at UNASUR’s headquarters in Quito, the representatives from Latin America sought consensus on freezing the production, TeleSur reported.

The meeting took place ahead of a summit of oil producers in Doha, Qatar, scheduled on April 17th where OPEC and non-OPEC producers would discuss a proposal to freeze oil output at January 2016 levels. Waiting for the market to balance itself would be “catastrophic,” said Carlos Pareja, Oil Minister of Ecuador,  the country which hosted the talks, Bloomberg reported. At the summit, Latin American players will endorse the plan. “We are going to give a message of support,” Pareja added.