President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela announced that his government is ready to let Byelorussian companies develop Venezuela’s oil fields, reported Belorusskiye Novosti, quoting Chavez during his tour of oil fields in the Latin American country together with Viktar Sheyman, the State Secretary of the Byelorussian Security Council, on March 25.

According to Chavez, as mentioned by the news source, the Minister of Oil and Energy of Venezuela, Rafael Ramirez, will allocate oil fields to Byelorussian companies and ensure that they begin developing those by the end of 2007.

Chavez and Sheyman also discussed the possible involvement of Byelorussian companies in connecting Venezuelan villages to the natural gas distribution network. The two also spoke about cooperation on defense issues, including on the issue of Byelorussian arms and armament supply to Venezuela. 

This information was originally published March 27, 2007 (www.naviny.by).