Riyadh.- Hugo Chavez, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, held several bilateral meetings with the President of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and the President of Angola, Jose Eduardo Dos Santos. These meetings were held on the eve of the III OPEC Summit of Sovereign and Heads of State which plenary meeting is scheduled to take place this Sunday.

President Chavez discussed topics related to energy, social and economic matters with the Algerian President. Algeria has had an important relation with countries in the South, and has played a central role in the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries. Up to date several binational agreements have been signed in the following areas: environment, education, tax, transportation, science and trade.

At the end of the meeting with the Angolan President, Commander Chavez affirmed that the relations with this African country have been consolidated beyond OPEC-related areas. President Chavez also announced that he foresees a series of cooperation documents to be signed with Angola in the first quarter of 2008. Angola is the second oil producing country in Sub-Saharan Africa following Nigeria which produces one million oil barrels per day.

At the third OPEC Summit taking place in Saudi Arabia, the Venezuelan President will promote bilateral agreements with representatives from other nations participating in such Summit that aim at strengthening relations based on strategic principles such as pluripolarity, sovereignty, self-determination and interdependence.

With information from the Presidential Press