Argentina is going to sell 1,000 tons of beef to Venezuela per month, under an agreement reached during a meeting between President Hugo Chávez and Argentinean businesspeople.

Argentina made the decision to generate an additional beef production quota immediately for Venezuela.

"In the short term, we urgently need to create a food reserve we do not have. We need to speed up our food production capacity," said Chávez during a forum to encourage installation of Argentinean agriculture machinery in Venezuela.

Further, the leader of the Argentinean Mill Operators' Federation, Alberto España, said his country would supply all of the wheat flour Venezuela may demand, with shipments estimated at some 10,000 tons.

In exchange, Chávez vowed to provide to Argentina all of the crude oil that the country may need to accomplish human and industrial development. "In Venezuela, we have oil reserves for 100 years more."