BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

24/07/2006

Venezuelan, Belarusian leaders talk up cooperation

MINSK, July 24 (RIA Novosti) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Monday he considered the president of Belarus to be his friend and the two countries should engage in proactive cooperation.

The outspoken South American leader is on a tour of eastern Europe - he is due to arrive in Moscow later Monday - in a bid to expand ties with the region, which is home to some of the world's leading defense-industry plants and has considerable mineral wealth.

"I have found another friend and we will form a team," Chavez said at a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko.

The Belarusian president, who like Chavez has come in for considerable criticism in Washington, in turn said his country was ready to cooperate with Venezuela.

"There are no closed issues in cooperation with Venezuela," Lukashenko said.

"I am impressed with your knowledge of the military and industrial complex, the oil and chemistry sphere and agriculture," Lukashenko said. "It offers confidence for the future of our cooperation."

Chavez, who was elected president in 1998 and celebrates his 52nd birthday Friday, will depart for his three-day official visit to Russia later today.

Source:

http://en.rian.ru/world/20060724/51741461.html