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Venezuela, Iran review joint projects ahead of Chavez visit(EFE Ingles Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Caracas, Mar 28 (EFE).- High-ranking Venezuelan and Iranian officials met in Caracas to review a set of joint projects that will be analyzed during President Hugo Chavez's visit to the Middle Eastern country next week, officials said. Friday's meeting was headed by the foreign ministers of Iran, Manouchehr Mottaki, and of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. Among the bilateral issues covered were "the creation of a Venezuelan-Iranian (investment fund), the exchange of raw material for technology, technological projects, the construction of a cement factory, projects in the energy sphere (and) the construction of plants for production of tractor and auto parts." Chavez plans to make a stopover in Iran next week as part of a visit that will also take him to Qatar and Japan. The leftist president mentioned some aspects of that trip Friday during a meeting with socialist educators, saying that the purpose of his visit to Iran was to further strengthen ties with an important ally. "I'm going to Iran to continue fortifying relations with Iran, because among other things we're installing the Iranian-Venezuelan bank," the president said. Chavez, who regularly rails against capitalism and says he is implementing socialism of the 21st century, said the bi-national bank has been in the works for years and is one of the mechanisms being pursued to confront the global economic crisis and ensure that Venezuela has its "own financial, political (and) independent architecture." The leftist Chavez has been promoting a multilateral lending institution in the Americas known as the Bank of the South, conceived of as an alternative to Washington-based institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Officially founded in late 2007, plans are to start operations later this year with Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela each contributing $2 billion. EFE rr/mc Copyright ? 2009 EFE News Services (U.S.) Inc. |