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Venezuela and Cuba to form energy, tech joint ventures(EFE Ingles Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Caracas, Dec 14 (EFE).- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro, signed agreements to create joint oil and telecommunications ventures, opening the way for the development of some 173 bilateral projects worth $2 billion in 2009. The agreements were signed Saturday by Chavez and Castro, who is on his first official visit to Venezuela, at the closing of the 9th High Level Joint Commission meeting in Caracas. Caracas and Havana signed a memorandum of understanding that calls for the formation of a "joint venture for the oil and liquefied natural gas refining system in Cuba," a deal that will expand the island's Cienfuegos and Hermanos Diaz refineries. The two leaders also signed an agreement for the "creation of the joint socialist company Guardian del Alba," which will be based in Venezuela and "regulate cooperation in the area of producing integrated technology solutions" for telecommunications and information technology. The meeting's final act included a review of the 2009 "cooperation program," which calls for the continuation "of 137 development projects and 36 new ones" worth $2 billion. Venezuela and Cuba have carried out 76 joint projects worth $1.35 billion in 2008, according to figures released by the commission, which began its session on Friday. During the ceremony on Saturday, Chavez presented Castro with the Order of the Liberator and gave him a replica of South American independence leader Simon Bolivar's sword. The two leaders delivered addresses praising socialism and the strong cooperation between Venezuela and Cuba over the past eight years. Castro arrived in Venezuela on Saturday morning for the official visit, his first since becoming Cuba's president. The 77-year-old Raul Castro was officially handed Cuba's presidency on Feb. 24. He initially served as interim president after his older brother, Fidel, 82, was stricken with a severe intestinal illness in July 2006. The Venezuelan and Cuban presidents attended two ceremonies honoring Bolivar and had a private meeting at the presidential palace. Venezuelan and Cuban officials have not said how long Castro plans to remain in Venezuela. The Cuban government announced earlier that Castro planned to attend the Latin American and Caribbean summit on integration and development this week in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, and would start an official visit to that country on Thursday. EFE gf/hv Copyright ? 2008 EFE News Services (U.S.) Inc. |