2 July 2009
Venezuelan oil minister discusses cooperation prospects in Minsk

Belarus hopes to become a major long-term trading partner for Venezuela, Viktar Sheyman, co-chairman of the joint High-level Commission, told the visiting Venezuelan minister of energy and oil, Rafael Ramirez, in Minsk on July 2.

Mr. Sheyman noted the “dynamic” development of relations between the two countries within the framework of their “strategic alliance.”

Two-way trade increased fourfold last year, he said but noted the need to step up efforts to maintain the trade growth and carry out large-scale projects amid the global crunch.

The Belarusian-Venezuelan High-level Commission, which is co-chaired by Minister Rafael Ramirez, is scheduled to hold a meeting in Caracas in August.

“The commission’s work should produce specific results that will allow starting assembly processes at joint companies – Ven-BelAZ Camiones, MAZ Ven and VeneMinsk Tractores,” Mr. Sheyman said. “We should use the commission’s meeting to speed up the implementation of other joint projects that will benefit both Belarusian manufacturers and Venezuelan consumers.”

“Belarus is ready to fully satisfy Venezuela’s demand” for machines, electric devices, industrial machinery, quarry and road equipment, he said, noting that joint projects would help Venezuela boost its “technological level.”

Mr. Ramirez expressed satisfaction with the current level of bilateral cooperation in the energy sphere.

“The projects that we have started jointly with Belarusnafta, as well as in the sphere of natural gas and seismic measurements fully satisfy us,” the minister said. “They are a sign of not only political proximity and readiness for cooperation but also a high level of your equipment.”

The meeting between Messrs. Sheyman and Ramirez was scheduled to yield the Venezuelan oil ministry’s statement on the transfer of three oil fields to Petrolera BeloVenezolana, a Belarusian-Venezuelan oil company; a memorandum on the joint development of a natural gas project in Venezuela; a memorandum of intent to set up a joint company that will provide services in the oil sphere; and an agreement on technological cooperation between the Belarusnafta oil company and Intevep, a subsidiary of National Oil Company of Venezuela. //BelaPAN