Syria and Venezuela sign agreements on energy, trade and economy

[News_Editor]

Syria and Venezuela sign agreements on energy, trade and economy

2010-10-22 14:09:38 GMT+7 (ICT)

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (BNO NEWS) -- Syria and Venezuela on Thursday strengthen its bilateral relation by signing agreements on energy, trade and economy, the state-run news agency SANA reported.

During a joint conference, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez announced the series of cooperation agreements reached during Chavez' visit to the Arab country.

"Syria's relations with Venezuela consolidate its ties with South America and vice versa. Lots of efforts are needed to set up strong ground for a serious launch of relations to help carry out the agreements signed between the two sides," Al-Assad said.

The Syrian leader mentioned that the two nations will work on narrowing the gap between them as the geographic position of both countries calls for a stronger infrastructure to facilitate the execution of such agreements. He added that a direct air route between Damascus and Caracas is urgently needed.

The construction of an oil refinery in Syria outstands among those agreements. The oil processing facility will be capable of refine around 140,000 oil barrels per day. The facility would be likely located in Homs, southern Syria.

"The refinery is one of very small projects in comparison with the overall picture I'm talking about. This network strengthens our economy in the face of the world economic crisis. All in all, it is but a stone in a big building we are constructing every day," the Syrian leader remarked.

The two leaders signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in relation to the promotion of trade investment and commerce in both countries. In addition, five new cooperation agreements were signed on education, commercial maritime transport, drug trafficking, the creation of a joint fund and the incorporation of Syria as a guest member in the ALBA organization.

"Syria's joining the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) as a guest member will help bolster the relationship regionally," Al-Assad said.

Syrian and Venezuelan ministers also agreed on the creation of a plant to cultivate, process and distribute cotton as well as a facility to process and distribute Syrian olive oil, which Chavez labeled as the best in the world.

Besides the cooperation agreements, the two leaders discussed the situation in the Middle East as well as in South America. Al-Assad told Chavez that Israel is unwilling to commit to the peace process and is trying to convince the world that the negotiations are doomed to failure.

He also called for unity with the Palestinian people and condemned the Israeli request of being recognized as a Jewish State as racist. "The Israeli siege on Gaza is continuous, and Judaizing Jerusalem is a racist process that cannot be separated from Israel's latest racist and fascist laws."

Furthermore, Al-Assad said that the current world order could barely be named order as is rather a disorder. According to the Syrian leader, the world order is being governed by power and domination instead of justice and principles.

''We should speed up the birth of the new world order which is being born today to reach a multilateral and balanced world in terms of economic, cultural, political and military sectors," Chavez responded.

"Thanks to the efforts of millions of people and leaders like the brave and wise President al-Assad, we will reach this new world in the coming few years and we'll forget all about the old one which is built on domination and repression," the Venezuelan leader concluded.

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