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.

Chavez, an advocate of Latin American integration to strengthen the region’s hand in negotiations with the US and other powerful countries, called the meeting “a critical development for our integration”.

Chavez said Venezuela would prefer making trade deals with other South American nations, including Brazil and Argentina, rather than the US, even if it meant lower profits for his country.