July 27, 2006
President Putin: Russia may invest billions of dollars in Venezuela

(RIA Novosti) - "Russian private business may invest billions of dollars in Venezuela with the government's support, the president said.

Following a meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chávez in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin said the interest of Russian companies in their Venezuelan partners was growing.

'The potential private investment of Russian companies may reach hundreds of millions, billions of dollars,' he said.

Putin said the oil and gas sector was the most promising area of cooperation: 'I'm delighted to say that our leading companies are making their first steps on the Venezuelan market.'

Russia's top companies, particularly Gazprom, are active on the Venezuelan market after the energy giant won a Phase A tender for the Rafael Urdaneta natural gas project and received licenses for prospecting and development of gas fields in the Bay of Venezuela with estimated capacity of 100 billion cubic meters in August 2005.

The left-wing Venezuelan leader, who was on the final day of his visit to Russia, said his country possessed some of the world's largest gas reserves. He also said he hoped for Russia's aid in the construction of a $20-billion natural gas pipeline to connect Venezuela with the Caribbean cost, and added that his country needed 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles) of pipes for the project.

'Russia's support in the construction of a major pipeline is highly important to us,' he said.

Before the meeting with Putin, Chávez said he expected to sign an agreement on the construction of a pipe-making plant in his country.

Putin said other potential areas of partnership included finance and investment, machine-building, mining industry, metals, chemical, transportation sectors, and military and technical cooperation (...)

Putin said cooperation between Russia and Venezuela was not aimed against any other countries.

'Our interaction seeks to develop economies of the two countries and raise living standards of our people,' he said.

The president added that Russia would be a reliable partner for Venezuela, just like it was for any other partner on the international arena.

Putin said he and the South American state's leader had also discussed ways of consolidating the legal base of bilateral cooperation".