Venezuelan President Calls for Increasing Economic Cooperation

Visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias called in Chengdu Sunday on Chinese business people and experts to take more active part in economic cooperation with his country.

Chavez made the call while delivering a speech titled " Promoting Venezuela-China Economic Relations" at the West China Economic and Trade Fair, which opened Friday in this capital of Sichuan Province, southwest China.

Chavez said China, and Sichuan Province as well, has scored marked achievements in opening to the outside world and attracted numerous foreign investment. He attributed these to the development strategy China has adopted and the favorable conditions Chinese governments at various levels have provided to investors.

This is what Venezuela could learn from, said the Venezuelan president, who arrived here Saturday for a three-day visit to Sichuan Province.

Chavez also briefed his audience on his country, and said the Venezuelan government has promulgated and is promulgating a series laws to encourage foreign investment in agriculture, petroleum and natural gas exploration.

Venezuela hopes enterprises from all over the world including China to participate in the construction of ports, airports and roads in the country, the president added.

Chavez said trade and economic cooperation between Venezuela and China has witnessed smooth progress in recent years. Statistics show that the bilateral trade volume last year hit 351 million U.S. dollars, up 86 percent over the previous year.

Venezuela has ranked first in attracting Chinese investment among Latin American countries, said Chavez, who called for more Chinese business people and experts to be involved in bilateral cooperation.

Earlier Sunday morning, Chavez went out of Chengdu, the provincial capital, for a trip to Dujiangyan, the world's oldest water conservancy project. He also visited some agricultural projects.

(peoples' Daily 05/28/2001)