Venezuela and Brazil sign trade deal

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, signed bilateral trade agreements yesterday in their effort to establish a strategic and economic alliance between the two South American nations.

The two leaders signed a series of cooperation accords, including joint ventures between the two countries’ state-owned oil companies to build a refinery in northeastern Brazil with technical assistance from Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, and open Venezuelan oil fields to exploration by Brazil’s Petrobras.