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US foes Venezuela, Belarus should form 'fighting team': Chavez
Reuters/BelTa (Belarus)
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez (L) and his Belarussian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko inspect the guards of honour during Chavez' official visit in Minsk July 24, 2006. Chavez on Monday lauded Lukashenko, accused in the West of crushing fundamental rights, as a friend and vowed to join him in creating a 'fighting team'.
By Valery Kalinovsky
AFP
MINSK, Belarus
Petroleumworld.com 07 24 06Venezuela's firebrand leader Hugo Chavez called for a "fighting team" with his Belarus counterpart Alexander Lukashenko Monday during his visit to a state dubbed "Europe's last dictatorship" by Washington.
"I have found another friend here and we should form a team... It will be a fighting team," Chavez said at a meeting with Lukashenko in the Belarussian capital.
Lukashenko, an ice hockey player, responded jokingly to Chavez's offer, saying: "We can form a team for football, hockey or basketball... A real fighting team."
The two leaders are considered pariahs by the United States, which has accused them of running hardline regimes and has hit both their countries with economic sanctions.
Chavez's visit was being seen mainly as a chance for closer relations between the two presidents, who are known for their eccentric leadership styles and their defiance against Washington.
During their talks, the two leaders signed a joint declaration on "long-term strategic cooperation between Belarus and Venezuela," the Belarussian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Agreements were signed between the two governments on cooperation in energy, petrochemicals, science and technology, the ministry statement said, without giving further details.
Chavez is also looking to drum up international support on a world tour that will take in, among other countries, Iran, Russia and Vietnam, to back Venezuela's bid to join the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member.
"Here we feel ourselves to be among our brothers," Chavez said after his arrival at Minsk airport on Sunday at the start of his three-day visit to Belarus.
"We see here a model social state like the one we are beginning to create," said Chavez, the first Venezuelan leader to visit this former Soviet republic lodged between Poland and Russia on the European Union's eastern border.
Washington frequently criticises Chavez's democratic credentials and the Venezuelan leader in turn accuses Washington of plotting to invade his country, a major oil exporter to the United States.
Following Lukashenko's controversial re-election in a landslide victory in March, Washington froze the Belarussian leader's assets and imposed a travel ban on top Belarussian officials.
Lukashenko, who now rarely receives high-profile foreign visitors, responded with similar sanctions against US officials.
"There is an enormous world of opportunities before us and we should take advantage of them," Chavez said at the meeting.
Lukashenko congratulated Chavez on his knowledge of economic and military affairs, saying: "This bodes well for our future cooperation."
Belarus manufactures farm machines and trucks that are exported largely to former Soviet states. Venezuela is one of the world's leading oil exporters.
Chavez took part later on Monday in a World War II commemoration ceremony on Minsk's Victory Square and visited a network of Soviet-era fortresses turned into a military museum outside the Belarussian capital.
The Venezuelan leader will visit a Belarussian military academy on Tuesday before flying to Russia on the next step of his world tour.
In Russia, Chavez will meet President Vladimir Putin and mark a deal announced by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov under which Moscow will supply 30 Su-30 fighter jets and 30 helicopters to Venezuela.
Chavez is set to visit the Barrikady factory in Volgograd that produces Russia's Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as the city of Izhevsk, where Kalashnikov assault rifles are made.
Washington has voiced worries about Russian arms sales to Venezuela, having banned such deals with Caracas for US manufacturers.
Chavez said last month that his visit to Russia could see a deal on building a Kalashnikov assault rifle factory in Venezuela.
AFP 24 1539 GMT 07 06
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