Iran-Venezuela seal economic links
Jul 2 06:18 AM US/Easter
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez, both fiercely anti-American, seal their economic alliance on Monday by laying the foundation stone of a joint petrochemical plant.
The two nations, both members of the powerful OPEC cartel, pledged on Sunday to boost cooperation and trade ties -- and slammed their arch-foe the United States.
On Monday, the final day of Chavez's trip, the two leaders will inaugurate construction of a 700-million-dollar methanol plant in the Asaluyeh industrial zone on the Gulf coast.
The plant, set to come on stream in four years, will have a capacity of 1.65 million tonnes of methanol a year and a similar project is planned for Venezuela, said Mohammad Hassan Peyvandi, director of planning and development for Iran's petrochemical industry.
The Venezuela plant would give Iran better access to Latin American and Brazilian markets and provide easier reach to India and Pakistan for Venezuela, the state news agency IRNA said.
"The United States is incapable of hurting Iran and Venezuela... cooperation between the two independent states is natural and it must be expanded," state television quoted Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as telling Chavez on Sunday.
Chavez arrived in Tehran on Saturday for a two-day visit on the last leg of a tour of nations at loggerheads with Washington, which has already taken him to Russia and Belarus.
"The election of anti-American governments in the (Latin American) region shows that US imperialism is weakening," Chavez said.
"Numerous oil and gas contracts between Iran and Venezuela show the two countries are serious in developing ties," he said, describing Iran as a "good model for other countries."
Ahmadinejad also called for stronger ties with Latin America in talks with his "ideological brother" Chavez.
Aside from their anti-US stance, the two countries enjoy cooperation in the energy sector, with Iran OPEC's second largest crude producer and Venezuela also a major player in the cartel.
Chavez, accompanied by his foreign, communications, energy, industry and economy ministers, is expected to sign 20 agreements with Iran for projects in his country.
Ahmadinejad toured Latin America in January in a bid to seek support from the region's leftist leaders who share his scornful defiance of the United States.
Chavez is the most vocal cheerleader in Latin America for Iran and its nuclear programme, which is feared by the West to be a cover for weapons development although Tehran insists it is purely peaceful.
The United States, which broke diplomatic ties with Iran in 1980, has been spearheading the international campaign to stop Iran's enrichment programme and has never ruled out a military option to halt the drive.
Venezuela and several other Latin American countries are members of the Non-Aligned Movement that at a summit last year emphatically backed Iran's "right" to nuclear energy.
Venezuela was alone in September 2005 in opposing a resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency that found Iran in violation of nuclear safeguards, paving the way for its referral to the Security Council.
Before heading to Iran, Chavez met Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarus counterpart Alexander Lukashenko and urged a global revolution against Washington.
Earlier this month, Iran welcomed Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, a Cold War foe of the United States. Tehran has also boosted ties with other countries which have frosty ties with Washington, notably Belarus, whose president has been condemned by the European Union for rights violations. |
