21 November 2006
Hugo Chavez orders establishment of Belarusian projects fund

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has ordered a fund to be set up to finance the establishment of Belarusian-Venezuelan joint ventures, official information sources said on Monday.

The fund reportedly totals $500 million at present.

Official information sources said that the matter had been under discussion at Aleksandr Lukashenko's meeting with Nikolai Maksyuta, governor of Russia's Volgograd province, on Monday.

This past September, Belarus and Venezuela reportedly agreed to establish several manufacturing enterprises and cooperate in many other areas, including gas and oil production. //BelaPAN