OREANDA-NEWS. September 10, 2009. Belarus and Venezuela intend to strengthen further their bilateral relationship. This position was reaffirmed 8 September by Presidents Alexander Lukashenko and Hugo Chavez in the course of their informal meeting in the presidential residence Zaslavl.

Alexander Lukashenko welcomed the guest and thanked him for visiting Belarus. The Belarusian leader emphasised that Belarus would carry out all the agreements that had been reached with Venezuela before this visit and those that would emerge as a result of it.

Alexander Lukashenko expressed his gratitude to Venezuela for the support, including financial support, it provided to Belarus. He also pointed out the achievements of the joint Belarus-Venezuela oil company which had already reaped its first profits.

For his part, Hugo Chavez said he always comes to Belarus ‘with an open heart’. ‘While on tour, I always make a stop here for a day or two,’ said the President of Venezuela.

On the bilateral interaction, Hugo Chavez stressed that Venezuela was intended to strengthen further the bilateral relationship with Belarus.

According to him, Venezuela has only just started to explore Belarus. ‘Our countries have built a new momentum in their relationship. We did not know Belarus before,’ said Hugo Chavez.

Sharing his impressions about his tour of Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ trademark), Hugo Chavez praised the fact that, in spite of the world crisis, Belarus had managed to keep the unemployment level unchanged, to save jobs. Belarus has great achievements in technology, in education, he said.

Venezuela finds it very important to cooperate with Belarus in residential construction and oil prospecting projects conducted in Venezuela by joint companies, as well as to cooperate with our country by setting up new companies to assemble Belarusian tractors and heavy vehicles in Venezuela, according to Hugo Chavez. ‘New horizons are opening up before us. There are no boundaries for our integration,’ said the Venezuelan leader.

Belarus views the bilateral relationship with Venezuela as strategic partnership.

In the evening, the President of Belarus hosted an official dinner in honour of the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

‘Our countries have reached a lot within a very short time,’ said Alexander Lukashenko.

Today it has become clear that Belarus and Venezuela have a mutual interest in cooperation with other countries. ‘This is the future of the Belarus-Venezuela relationship,’ said Alexander Lukashenko.

The Head of State reaffirmed the complete openness of Belarus in the development of the bilateral relationship.

For his part, President Hugo Chavez praised the course of development of the bilateral relationship. ‘I would call the first stage of our cooperation successful,’ he said.

The Venezuelan President was optimistic about the outlook for the bilateral relationship. He said, ‘We have no alternative to cooperation and brotherhood. Our mutual cooperation should expand further. Let us move foreword’.

Tomorrow the two leaders are expected to hold talks and sign a number of bilateral documents.