BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

10/12/2007

Lukashenko vows to support Venezuela's independence for oil jointventure

CARACAS. Dec 10 (Interfax) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has expressed readiness to support Venezuela in guaranteeing the country's sovereignty and security.

"No one has ever given such a gift as the one given to Belarus today by this geographically distant land. I want to state that we have something to offer back for this great gift of Venezuelan people. We will do everything to guarantee the sovereignty, security, and independence in Venezuela," Lukashenko said at the opening ceremony of the Belarusian-Venezuelan oil production joint venture within the framework of his visit to Caracas.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez confirmed Venezuela's aspiration to develop mutually beneficial cooperation with Belarus, noting similar the approaches of the two countries to foreign and domestic political issues.

Lukashenko and Chavez signed a military and technical cooperation and other agreements on cooperation in various areas within the framework of the visit. An intergovernmental agreement on trade and economic cooperation, an agreement on assistance to and mutual protection of investments, an agreement on the evasion of dual taxation were among them.

The established a Belarusian-Venezuelan oil production joint venture is capable of producing seven million tonnes of oil annually, Belarusian First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko told journalists.

"Two oil fields were given. This allows us to say that our joint venture will produce one million tonnes of oil next year. We managed to agree that more fields will be given in addition to these two. This means that we will produce two million tonnes of oil at the joint venture by the end of 2009. And this is quite a good figure," Semashko said.

Source:

http://www.interfax.com/3/344641/news.aspx