Venezuela and Belarus Strengthen Strategic Alliance

Mérida, December 9, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com) – President
of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, made an official visit to Venezuela
this weekend, where he signed several biliateral agreements to
provide Venezuela with industry and technology from Belarus and the
two countries formed a joint company to extract oil from Venezuela's
Orinoco River Delta.

"For us there are no limits to cooperation between our
countries," said Lukashenko from the Orinoco on Saturday. "We have made
agreements that we are going to strengthen by all means to construct a
multi-polar world."

The two leaders traveled to the Orinoco on Saturday to
inaugurate a joint company for exploitation of the heavy crude oil
located there. The company will belong 60 percent to the Venezuelan
Petroleum Corporation (CVP) and 40 percent to Belorusneft of Belarus
and will exploit oil deposits in the eastern state of Anzoategui, as
well as in the western state of Zulia.

But beyond the agreement for the exploitation of oil, Belarus
and Venezuela also signed several agreements for the creation of
industries with technology from Belarus. The two countries plan on
creating three factories in the next few years: one to produce
heavy-duty trucks for mining (Venbelas), another to build tractors, and
a third for the construction of auto chassis and bodies.

"We are ready to share our development with you," said
Lukashenko, who promised that within two or three years the two nations
would create more joint companies to transfer technology to Venezuela.

Communications
Minister Willian Lara emphasized that Belarus has a high level of
scientific and technological development due to the fact that there was
a high level of development there during the time of the Soviet Union.
He said Venezuela has high expectations from the relationship with
Belarus, including the eventual possibility of exporting products such as heavy-duty trucks to the rest of Latin America.

In Caracas on Friday, President Lukashenko and President
Chavez inaugurated an exhibition of the best industrial production,
craftsmanship, and culture from Belarus. Hundreds of presenters from
Belarus will present Belorussian textiles, foods, and diverse sectors
of production with the purpose of deepening commercial ties between the
countries.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro emphasized the
importance of the exposition, which he assured will be attended by
important diplomats and businessmen from Latin America who are
interested in building a relationship with Belarus.

"Belarus inherited the technological, scientific, and
industrial formation of the Soviet Union," said Maduro. He said that
the European nation had a lot to offer Venezuela in terms of highways,
city development, mining sectors, gas sectors, heavy machinery, and
petrochemicals.

Another of the agreements signed is for the creation of a
joint company to produce televisions and other low-cost electronic
goods and another company for the production of low-weight trucks.

The
Venezuelan president emphasized the importance of the agreements for
Venezuela's development, and the importance of Lukashenko's presence in
Venezuela.

"These agreements are proof that now Venezuela is free. Now we
have ceased to be a colony of the United States," Chavez said. "Ten years
ago it was unthinkable that Lukashenko would even be in Venezuela."

The
two nations began to deepen bilateral relations after Chavez traveled
to Minsk in July of 2006. Looking to diversify Venezuela's economy and
geopolitical relations, the Venezuelan president has sought numerous
agreements with the former Soviet-bloc nation and earlier this year
gave Belarus a loan of 460 million dollars to pay a debt to Russia.

The two countries have signed 24 cooperative agreements over
the last two years and plan to continue strengthening commercial and
strategic ties. Both leaders are seen negatively from Washington, which
calls Lukashenko "Europe's last dictator."

"The media dictatorship calls him the last dictator of Europe,
and me the last dictator of Latin America," said Chavez. "Well, here we
are, the last dictators."

He insisted that they are both
demonized because they are "at the front of a process to liberate our
people, to unite our nations, and break the neoliberal paradigm of
globalization."

"We both resist a unipolar world and we both resist an empire that wants to be the owner of the world," he said.