Brazil, Venezuela ink 10 agreements

Brasilia and Caracas have signed a number of agreements in the fields of oil, infrastructure, agriculture and biotechnology during an official visit to Brazil by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

During the one-day state visit, the two countries signed 10 agreements on Monday that include several financing deals between Venezuela’s giant oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and the Brazilian Bank of Social Development (BNDES), a Press TV correspondent reported.

PDVSA is a partner in a multi-billion-dollar oil agreement in Brazil financed by BNDES.

The agreements also include the financing of a shipyard in Venezuela for Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) member states, EL Universal reported.

ALBA comprises of Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The 637 million dollars required for the ALBA shipyard, which is to be built in the northeastern state of Sucre, will be provided by Brazil’s Economic and Social Development National Bank, and Brazilian companies will take part in the construction of the work.

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff and Chavez also signed other memoranda of understanding on industrial and agricultural development.

“Venezuela wants to strengthen its industry and agriculture, wants to strengthen its infrastructure and add value to the vast natural resources available,” said Rousseff in a joint statement with Chavez. “Brazil is willing and able to contribute to that effort,” she stressed.

Venezuela is also considering the purchase of up to 30 aircraft from Brazilian manufacturer Embraer. The country’s state oil company PDVSA and Brazil’s Petrobras also reached an agreement on the completion of Abreue Lima refinery, under construction at Suape Industrial Port Complex in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco.

The visiting Venezuelan leader said the two Latin American states are creating a new model of relationship “that is not limited to competition.”

“We are creating a model of economic, social, political and scientific complementation and cooperation. These agreements attest to this,” Chavez said.

Rousseff, for her part, said that Brazilian companies remain committed to the development of projects in Venzuela, noting that “the size and scope of these projects show the Brazilian private sector’s confidence in the Venezuelan economy.”

The projects include construction of hydroelectric plants, highways and subway systems, shipbuilding facilities, as well as the production of steel and petrochemical.

Meanwhile, Rousseff and Chavez urged South American countries to keep the region peaceful and free of war.