September 17, 2004
Chávez and Lula "closer than ever"
(BBC Mundo) - "The Presidents of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez Frías, and from Brazil, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, closed a business people meeting in Manaos with attendants from both countries with an exchange of congratulations and gratefulness.

One of the highlighted issues was the results of the referendum last month that ratified Venezuelan president in power as well as Brazil's role as pacifier during that process.

'After the referendum, there cannot be any more doubts in any part of the world that in Venezuela there is a real democracy', Lula said.

'I want to tell Brazilian business people one thing, with an open heart. I was very criticized two years ago when I called Chávez a friend. Now I tell you, don't be afraid to invest in Venezuela' the Brazilian President said.

On the other hand the Minister of Development, Industry and External Commerce of Brazil, Luis Fernando Furlan, confirmed that his country will finance through loans, projects related to energy, transport, roads and irrigation in Venezuela.

Bilateral Commerce
Commercial relations between the two countries were stuck in some US$ 2.000 million and it has now started to increase. According to some businessmen that were present at the meeting, this amount has potential to US$ 5.000 million annually in the next five years.

Lula called to 'revitalize the flow of South American commerce' as a first step in the integration process with the rest of Latin America and assured that there will be a 'commercial revolution' in the region.

During the meeting companies from both countries signed some agreements. Among them, one between the Brazilian mining company Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) with CorpoZulia, a development organization from the western Venezuelan state of Zulia, in order to study the possibility of carbon exploitation to export into Brazil (…)".