China and Venezuela sign economic cooperation agreements long-term

Jorge Giordani, Minister of Planning and Finance, said that among the agreements signed on Monday highlighted a supply agreement between PDVSA and the National Oil Corporation of China, and mining cooperation agreement between the Corporation Venezolana de Guayana and the Development Bank China


August 23, 2010 | 8:58 a.m. - EFE



Jorge Giordani, Minister of Planning and Finance, told the press | AFP

The governments of China and Venezuela signed Monday in Beijing several documents of long-term economic cooperation, including financial arrangements in the mining and oil sectors.

According to the Venezuelan embassy in China, the delegation from Caracas was led by Minister of Planning and Finance, Jorge Giordani.

"We have finalized the legal architecture of a large financing and long-term benefit the development of structural projects, known to have a direct economic impact in the transformation process in Venezuela," Giordani said in a speech to the Chinese authorities.

Four agreements were signed on Monday, among them a supply contract from Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) and National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and mining cooperation agreement between the Corporation Venezolana de Guayana (CVG) and China Development Bank.

However, the communiqué does not mention any specific details of the covenants or the numbers or amounts agreed.

Asian attended by the chairman of the board of the China Development Bank Chen Yuan, the vice minister of the National Commission on Reform and Development (NRDC), maximum economic planning body in the country, "Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice president and CNPC, Wang Dingjin.

"From this strategic alliance that began in 2001, based on the axis of oil and agriculture, have evolved into a diversified cooperation, covering all possible fields of interest between the two brotherly countries," said Giordani, in turn President the Venezuelan side of the High Level Joint Commission between the two countries.

Beijing and Caracas also signed today an agreement between the financial architecture of China Development Bank and the Bank of Economic and Social Development of Venezuela (BANDES) for the funding dollar and Chinese renminbi.

"I feel proud and satisfied of the concrete results we can now offer our peoples," settled Giordani, who said that these agreements lead to the "beginning of a new phase in this relationship."

The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry recently reported that trade between both countries had "multiplied by 50, to nearly 10,000 million dollars."

The government of Hugo Chavez is seeking Chinese investment to its huge oil reserves, but also to diversify its oil sales from its main traditional market (USA), and has set the goal of being able to sell to China one million barrels daily.

Venezuela, the fifth largest exporter of oil, 400,000 barrels of crude oil sent to China in its strategy of "diversification" of export markets, according to Venezuelan officials.

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