CARACAS, 15 March (BelTA) – Belarus will increase the oil output in Venezuela up to 20,000 barrels a day, said President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez as he met with a Belarusian delegation in Caracas. The Belarusian delegation traveled to Venezuela to take part in a session of the joint Belarusian-Venezuelan commission for trade and economic cooperation. The joint Belarusian-Venezuelan company Petrolera BeloVenezolana extracts about 15,000 barrels of oil a day. Hugo Chavez said that the company has an opportunity to produce 5,000 barrels more. “Our goal is 20,000 barrels a day,” said the Venezuelan President. Despite the long distance between Belarus and Venezuela, the two countries have to strengthen the bilateral ties, Hugo Chavez believes. The two countries may develop new projects and extend the nomenclature of export and import deliveries. For instance, Venezuela is ready to import 10,000 tonnes of Belarusian milk powder this year. Hugo Chavez also expressed his interest in the import of Belarusian wheat. “We need wheat and we are ready to purchase it in Belarus. All the wheat we have is an imported one, then why not to make our friends the main suppliers?” President of Venezuela said. Venezuela, in turn, may deliver cacao and cacao products, fruits and coffee to Belarus. “We are ready to import a lot of commodities from Belarus, and Belarusians are ready to train us in those technologies they have. The Venezuelan people enjoy the products of the relations between our countries,” stressed Hugo Chavez. “Venezuelans should know more about Belarus. Belarus enjoys a strategic location in the heart of Europe. This country has contributed greatly to the victory over Nazis. Belarus has a low unemployment rate and it managed to escape a thoughtless privatization,” said the Venezuelan President. By mid-2011 Belarus plans to complete the construction of three plants in Venezuela in order to produce brick, tractors and trucks, First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko said as he met with President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez. The Belarusian delegation took part in a session of the Belarus-Venezuela joint commission for trade and economic cooperation, BelTA has learnt. Vladimir Semashko stressed that over the last four years Belarus and Venezuela have made a breakthrough which other countries make for decades. The two states have already paved the way for the implementation of the concrete projects. Thus, Belarusian specialists have installed gas supply service in several regions of the Barinas state and have been building up residential area in the country. Belarus has also been constructing a brick plant which opening is slated for 1 October 2011. The First Vice Premier of Belarus assured, however, that the works would be completed in the mid-summer next year. Besides, by 1 July 2011 Belarus will complete the construction of two other plants to manufacture 10,000 tractors and 5,000 trucks a year respectively. Vladimir Semashko noted Venezuela’s big interest in these companies: “First of all, it is extra jobs. Secondly, Venezuela will have its own machinery and our technologies”. He also added that the economies of the two countries are complementary: Venezuela is rich in natural resources and Belarus has a well-developed industry, engineering and agriculture. БЕЛТА
Written by belta.by
