OREANDA-NEWS. On December 06, 2007 President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko begins an official visit to Venezuela, reported the Official website http://www. president.gov.by. 

Alexander Lukashenko is expected to hold wide-ranging talks with President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez, touching upon all aspects of Belarusian-Venezuelan cooperation.

Some crucial joint documents are expected to be signed in Caracas.

In the course of his visit, the President of Belarus will attend the ceremony of opening the National Exhibition of the Republic of Belarus in Venezuela.

In 2006, the Presidents of Belarus and Venezuela took a decision to create a strategic alliance.

Although lying at a great distance from each other, within a relatively short period of time Belarus and Venezuela have made considerable progress in various areas of bilateral relations: many mutually beneficial projects have been successfully launched.

The sides have started the process of setting up joint ventures to prospect for natural resources, produce oil and construction materials.

Belarus and Venezuela are also cooperating in science, education, culture and military and technological sphere.

In terms of the level of economic development and economic potential, Venezuela is one of the leading countries in Latin America. Venezuela has the biggest proven oil reserves in the region and comes 7th in the world in terms of oil production volume. Venezuela also possesses big deposits of natural gas.