no mining mentioned or signed in the talks between the two leaders

does it speak good for Kry?

I hope so.

oiramoric

NATIONAL


Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Venezuela and Russia signed seven agreements, one on nuclear energy
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EFE --
The governments of Venezuela and Russia today signed seven agreements in Caracas cooperation in various fields, including one for "cooperation in the field of using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes."

The agreement aims to promote "bilateral projects" in that field, "especially those that meet domestic energy needs and contribute to the diversification of energy sources," according to the document.

The signing of the agreements came within the framework of the visit to Venezuela of the Russian president, Dimitri Medvedev, who attended with his Venezuelan colleague, Hugo Chávez, to the ceremony in which the documents were initialed at Miraflores Palace, headquarters Venezuelan Government.

Medvedev arrived today in Venezuela in a two-day official visit, which coincides with the presence of a Russian fleet which arrived on Tuesday to conduct joint naval exercises with the Navy in Venezuelan territorial waters of this nation in the Caribbean Sea.

The agreements aim to strengthen the "strategic alliance" bilateral, and the visit has been described by Chavez as "historic", because it was the first carried out by a Russian president to Venezuela.

Another two of the seven agreements signed today were in the energy field, the first of which referred to "cooperation in the energy area," without specifying details.

In addition, Venezuela and Russia have sealed an agreement for the joint study "of the tanker Ayacucho Block 3, located in the oil-rich Orinoco Belt of eastern Venezuela.

The agreement "will assess the extra crude production and refining in Venezuela as well as improved marketing of crude outside the Venezuelan territory," according to the document.

A fourth naval agreement in the field seeking "progress on the construction and repair of ships and maritime platforms," as well as in the design of various types of vessels and their accessories, and will "initiate a plan for training of manpower in Venezuela."

In the area of transport, Venezuela and Russia also signed a resolution on "air services", which establishes a legal framework "for the operation of aviation companies in both countries."

The sixth project involves the Venezuelan Ministry of Light Industries and Commerce and the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia, and aims to "provide greater opportunities on a reciprocal basis and legal guarantees to companies interested in investing" in both states.

Finally, the two governments agreed to abolish visa requirements in the visits of citizens of both countries, which "contributes to the intensification and deepening of exchanges" between Russia and Venezuela, according to the document.

The signing of seven agreements concluded with the imposition of the decoration of the Grand Collar of the Order of the Liberator to President Medvedev on the part of Chavez.

The "strategic alliance" between the Eurasian and the Caribbean country allowed the launch, last November 7, the first of a borehole drilling for gas in the Gulf of Venezuela, in the far northwest of the country.

The drilling began on a platform jointly operated by the state Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and the Russian company "Gazprom", located 50 miles west of the Paraguana peninsula, on Venezuelan territorial waters.

The relationship between the two countries also involved between 2005 and 2007 the signing of 12 contracts for the purchase of Russian weapons by Venezuela, worth 3,400 million euros, to purchase 24 Sukhoi-30 fighter bombers, half a hundred helicopters MI-17 , MI-26 and MI-35, and one hundred thousand AK-103 Kalashnikov rifles.