Cuba and Venezuela sign millionaire bilateral trade agreement
Periodico 26, Las Tunas, Cuba
Cuba and Venezuela sign millionaire bilateral trade agreement
28 April 2005
Havana, April 28 (RHC) - Havana and Caracas signed a bilateral trade agreement under which Cuba will purchase more than 412 million dollars worth of Venezuelan products this year. The signing of the accord was presided over by Cuban President Fidel Castro and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez.
The accord was penned in the Cuban capital as part of the so called Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas established in Havana in December aimed at promoting Latin America’s integration on the basis of fair trade and cooperation.
This is also part an official visit by the Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, and a delegation of high-ranking government officials and more than 200 business executives from that South American nation.
The two countries also signed cooperation agreements in the area of energy and electricity, an accord between Venezuela’s oil company PDVESA and its Cuban counterpart Cupet to buy and sell crude oil and a crude oil storage agreement between the two companies.
Other accords include letters of intent for the joint rehabilitation of an oil refinery in the south central Cuban city of Cienfuegos and an oil pipe connecting the refinery to an oil tanker terminal in the western Cuban city of Matanzas and the rehabilitation of the facility.
Speaking to the audience, President Chavez said that the bilateral agreement will allow Caracas to increase jobs in the South American nation and to continue demonstrating the quality of Venezuelan goods and the country’s potential as a country.
He said that the two presidents attended the establishment of a branch in Cuba of the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA named PDVSA Cuba, which will serve as a base of operations for the two firms in the Caribbean. He also said that they had attended the opening of an office in Havana of Venezuela’s Banco Industrial or Industrial Bank to grant credits to Cuban importers and cooperate in the integral development of the two peoples.
The Venezuelan President also referred to Exhibition of Venezuelan products in Havana’s Expocuba Exhibit Halls, including goods from that South American nation, including petrochemicals, plastic, textiles, food and others.
He highlighted the attitude of Cuba when it offered to purchase Venezuelan products with no tariffs to give a boost to the living standards of the two peoples.
