[NYTr] Chavez, Correa on ForeignTours, Incl. Saudi Arabia

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Chavez to Saudi Arabia, Iran and France

Caracas, Nov 15 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
confirmed visits to Saudi Arabia, Iran, France and perhaps Portugal.

In an interview on TVO television Chavez explained that he would be in
Riyadh on November 17 and 18 to participate in the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Summit.

He will then travel to Iran to meet with President Mahmud Ahmadineyad
and sign new agreements that include a strategic alliance between both
nations.

Chavez informed that he would be in Paris on November 20 for a meeting
with French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, with whom he had covered issues
of mediation to achieve a humanitarian prisoner's exchange in Colombia.

The Venezuelan president also explained that he might travel to
Portugal to meet with Prime Minister Jose Socrates, who extended an
invitation during the Ibero American Summit in Chile and is awaiting
confirmation from Lisbon.

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Ecuador President Heads East

Quito, Nov 15 (Prensa Latina) Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa
travels Thursday to Saudi Arabia to formalize his country's return to
the OPEC and will visit later China and Indonesia, to expand political
and trade links.

Also included is the Third Summit of Heads of State from the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Riad on
November 17-18.

The presence of the South American statesman in that event confirms
Ecuador's interest of joining the oil nations' poster, which abandoned
in 1992 with a $4.7 million debt.

According to Ecuadorian Oil Minister Galo Chiriboga, that debit will be
paid in three-year term.

Ecuador's entrance to the OPEC is a very important step, because the
country could have access to information, and learn what the other
nations are doing in trade.

After the summit, the head of State will move Monday to Beijing, to
meet with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, Peoples' National Assembly
Permanent Committee president Wu Bangguo, and China's Communist Party
Political Bureau Permanent Committee member Li Changchun, as well as
visit Shanxi and Shanghai.

Later, the Ecuadorian governor will go to Jakarta, Indonesia, November
25, to analyze with his counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
possibilities to expand trade links.

Correa is expected to return Quito November 28, a day before of the
creation of the Constituent Assembly in the city of Montecristi. hr iff
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