Iran Promotes Trade With South America

Iranian President Ahmadinejad has pledged 1 billion dollars for the development of Bolivia’s economy. At his meeting Thursday with Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, president Ahmadinejad signed several agreements on cooperation in the oil and gas industry, mining and agriculture.

He told a press conference that the Iranian people and government stand always by the side of Bolivia’s people and administration.

The visit also formalized the re-establishment of relations between the two countries.

In Caracas, agreements on cooperation in the fields of petrochemicals and the production of car parts were signed late Thursday between Venezuela and Iran, which are united in their criticism of the US administration.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Ahmadinejad’s closest ally in South America, lauded the Iranian president, who was making his third visit to the South American country in a year, as “a great fighter against imperialism and for peace.”

The two South American nations have reached a number of trade and aid agreements with Iran, particularly in the energy sector.

In La Paz, Ahmadinejad and Morales signed a joint statement recognizing “the rights of developing nations to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.”

The Iranian president also pledged to work more closely and fight imperialism in collaboration with the Bolivian president and the president of Venezuela during visits to La Paz and Caracas.

Venezuela and Iran have recently signed 164 cooperation agreements in the fields of energy, industry, trade and residential construction.

Their two presidents also agreed at the beginning of the year to establish a 2-billion-dollar fund to help other countries free themselves from “the yoke of imperialism.”

Both countries are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).