Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, signed bilateral trade agreements on Monday in their effort to establish a strategic economic alliance between the two South American nations.

Chavez and Lula da Silva signed a series cooperation accords, including joint ventures between the two countries’ state-owned oil companies hinged on building a refinery in northeastern Brazil with technical assistance from Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, and opening Venezuelan oil fields to exploration by Brazil’s Petrobras.

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