BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

13/07/2007

Venezuela-Belarus Go For Joint Projects

Minsk, Jul 13 (Prensa Latina) Venezuela will put up half a billion dollars in a joint or combined investment fund with Belarus to finance their first bilateral projects, diplomatic sources said Friday.

The fund will be a great way to move initial economic collaboration and trade ahead between the two nations, said Cesar Campos Cedeno, Venezuelan Embassy commercial consultant in Minsk.

One such exchange will be 1,000 tons of powdered milk to Venezuela with 20 tons of coffee returning from Venezuela to the European nation.

Caracas also will exchange with Belarus on technology transfer, contribution of human resources and intellectual capital, as well as experience in areas like gasification of the country, the diplomat pointed out.

Creation of the investment fund was analyzed in Caracas meetings between the Venezuelan party and an extensive Belarusian delegation, led by the National Security Council Secretary of State Viktor Sheiman.

Caracas and Minsk signed cooperation documents for energy, automobiles, petro-chemistry, machinery and the scientific-technical and military fields, among others.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who will visit Venezuela this year, regarded bilateral links between his country and Venezuela as strategic, during the visit of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Minsk in June.

Source:

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7BC55EBC8E-8A7F-48C0-B527-5C2857159245%7D)&language=EN