BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

25/07/2006

Venezuela, Belarus in "strategic alliance"

Venezuela and Belarus have launched a "strategic alliance" focusing particularly on military cooperation, Tuesday said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during his visit to the Minsk military academy.

"We have created a real strategic alliance between Venezuela and Belarus. Cooperation between our countries will be through several ways, including technical military mechanisms," the Venezuelan ruler added.

"We have to defend our motherlands and reject any foreign threat," added Chavez, who is concluding his two-day visit to his Belarusian counterpart Alexandre Lukachenko, whom Washington brands "Europe's last dictator," AP reported.

Chavez urged the Belarusian Government to "face a false democracy that is a de facto democracy of elites and multinational oligarchs."

Meanwhile, official Belarusian media praised "the axis of good" comprising Minsk and Caracas and created during Chavez' visit to Belarus.

"Axis of good and construction," "A heartfelt friendship," read the headlines of newspapers Narodnaia Gazeta and Respublika, respectively.

The independent press made no comments on Chavez' visit. As they are published abroad, Belarusian opposition newspapers are published a week later.

Chavez Tuesday is starting a visit to Russia that is taking him to Volga. On Wednesday, the Venezuelan ruler will arrive on Ijevsk and in Moscow.

Chavez and Lukashenko Monday signed seven agreements, including military cooperation, the official news agency ABN reported.

The rulers initialed a joint statement at the headquarters of the Belarusian Presidency, following a meeting where Chavez expressed interest in bilateral integration.

Both countries signed a memorandum of understanding for political consultations, and inked pacts on military cooperation, scientific and technological cooperation, a pact on petrochemicals and energy, and an agreement on agriculture, DPA informed.

Lukashenko said he was in sympathy with Chavez' Government. The Venezuelan President became the first Latin American ruler to visit Belarus since 1991, when it declared independence from the former Soviet Union.

Source:

http://english.eluniversal.com/2006/07/25/en_pol_art_25A751813.shtml

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