Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will visit Caracas Thursday to discuss Venezuela’s Mercosur (Common Market of the South) membership and energy cooperation with his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez.
The meeting between Lula and Chavez, seventh in the context of quarterly gatherings, demonstrates the consolidation of an alliance founded on partnership for all-around development, said presidential spokesman Marcelo Baumbach at a press conference Wednesday.
The protocol to make Venezuela enter Mercosur, an economic, political and social bloc formed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, was being discussed at the Brazilian Congress, Baumbach added.
The protocol, already approved by the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, would be voted upon by the Senate on Thursday.
Baumbach said the Brazilian leader believed the document would be approved, and details of negotiation about the trade market would be analyzed in Caracas.
During Lula’s visit, the agreement between Venezuelan and Brazilian state oil companies PDVSA and Petrobras is expected to be signed for the construction of Abreu e Lima refinery in the state of Pernambuco, in Brazil’s Northeast.
The spokesman stressed that the agreement was the result of the determination of both countries to deepen bilateral energy cooperation.
Xinhua
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