by Erik Sperling
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping wrapped up his official visit to Venezuela yesterday, signing a dozen new agreements with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in the areas of energy, telecommunications, information, and agriculture.
Xi pledged another US$8 billion towards a joint development fund for projects in the South American country, while Venezuela agreed to contribute an additional $4 billion. Chavez said the fund will be used for development in education, health, and infrastructure in Venezuela.
The new agreements are the newest sign of the increasingly close ties between Caracas and Beijing.
“We’re near to 300 signed documents, advanced projects that are very strategically important,” Chavez said, during a speech at the China-Venezuela Business Forum.
In the field of energy, agreements were signed allowing for preliminary steps towards new drilling projects in Venezuela’s Orinoco basin, the creation of a company to manufacture oil tankers, and multiple refineries on Chinese soil, including one that would process up to 400,000 barrels per day (bpd).
“We know that Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world,” Chavez affirmed. “All the oil that China needs for its development in the next 200 years is here in Venezuela.”
In honor of Xi’s visit, Chavez formally inaugurated Venezuela’s first cellular phone factory, the Venezuelan Telecommunications Corporation (VTELCA), which was constructed with Chinese support and technology in the northern state of Falcon.
During a live television and radio broadcast, the Venezuelan president connected to the factory via Venesat-1, Venezuela’s first geostationary satellite launched late last year in another Sino-Venezuelan project.
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