Venezuela and Argentina Deepen Energy and Technology Cooperation
Argentina and Venezuela announced the formation of a mixed company for the production of Venezuelan oil, as both governments highlighted the “increased density” of bilateral cooperation following the visit of Argentine planning and development minister Julio de Vido to Venezuela.
Mérida, 20th January 2012 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Argentina and Venezuela announced the formation of a mixed company for the production of Venezuelan oil, as both governments highlighted the “increased density” of bilateral cooperation following the visit of Argentine planning and development minister Julio de Vido to Venezuela on Wednesday this week.
Venezuelan energy and petroleum minister Rafael Ramirez announced that 1.7 billion barrels of Venezuelan crude have already been certified for the new mixed company, which will see US $2.2 billion of investment.
“All the oil that Argentina requires is here, to process it, to refine it. Argentina needs to increase its refining capacity,” announced Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
For his part, de Vido stated that working with Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA will aid Argentina’s sustained economic growth, commenting that bilateral relations between the two countries “are in a new stage of strengthening, giving increased density to relations, and fundamentally, to Argentina and Venezuela’s increased growth and technological development”.
The Argentine minister also proposed the possibility of installing factories in Venezuela for the construction of Tablet laptops, currently produced nationally in Argentina. Chavez responded to the idea enthusiastically, suggesting that the training and employment the move would entail could be incorporated into the Venezuelan government’s Knowledge and Work mission, which seeks to generate 3 million jobs by 2018.
The Venezuelan president also highlighted that new factories are being constructed across Venezuela with Argentine support, from agricultural processing plants to factories linked to the construction and petroleum industries. Venezuela and Argentina have signed hundreds of bilateral cooperation agreements in diverse economic sectors over recent years.
More than economic cooperation, Chavez declared that bilateral cooperation seeks to “consolidate the Argentine – Venezuelan relationship as one of the central axis of the new geopolitics of South American integration,” with the aim of strengthening South America as a region.
Meawhile, de Vido indicated that close bilateral cooperation is thanks to agreements reached between Chavez and the late ex-Argentine president Nestor Kirchner (2003 – 2007). Nestor’s wife, Christina Kirchner, is the current president of Argentina.
