25 July 2006
Chavez heads for Moscow after Belarus visit

A plane with Hugo Chavez on board took off from Minsk's international airport and headed for Moscow on Tuesday, ending the Venezuelan leader's three-day visit to the Belarusian capital. Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky saw Mr. Chavez off at the airport.

The visit yielded a number of bilateral agreements. In particular, Aleksandr Lukashenko and Mr. Chavez inked a joint declaration of the Republic of Belarus and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela which outlines long-term strategic partnership priorities. Apart from this, interstate agreements on cooperation in the spheres of science, technologies, energy and petrochemistry, as well as memoranda of understanding in the spheres of political consultations between the two countries' foreign ministries and agricultural cooperation were signed.

While in Belarus, Mr. Chavez visited the Military Academy, the Stalin Line WWII memorial and a filling station in Minsk, and laid flowers at the monument on Victory Square.

The Venezuelan president set out on a two-week world tour on July 19. Apart from the Belarus and Russia visits, his itinerary also includes stops in Qatar, Iran, Vietnam and Mali. //BelaPAN