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Africa to Benefit From Subsidized Oil From Venezuela: Official

Posted on: Wednesday, 8 February 2006, 09:01 CST

Africa to benefit from subsidized oil from Venezuela: official

NAIROBI, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- African countries could soon begin to benefit from subsidized oil imports from Venezuela similar to those enjoyed by South American countries, which were affected by Hurricane Katrina last year, a Venezuelan official announced here Tuesday.

Visiting Venezuelan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Africa Reinaldo Bolivar said several African nations including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Kenya, and Somalia could benefit from cheaper oil imports.

"Venezuela is one of the principal exporters of petroleum products. Several countries in South America and the Caribbean that were affected by the Hurricane Katrina such as Brazil are already enjoying cheaper oil imports," Bolivar said.

"This is not to say they do not pay immediately, but they can take oil on credit and pay later," Bolivar said.

Kenya and Venezuela signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Nairobi on Tuesday to cooperate in the fields of energy, trade and international affairs.

Kenyan Foreign Minister Raphael Tuju and the Venezuelan official signed the agreement with the development of technical expertise in oil exploration being foremost in the framework accord, which they said would help establish "concrete consultations."

The visiting official, who has held talks with several African leaders, said his country was keen on increasing its diplomatic presence in Africa and was using Nairobi as its launching pad to promote cooperation with African countries on energy.

Kenyan officials said the framework cooperation pact would launch stronger diplomatic ties between the two countries and help spur up trade between the two countries, which they said is minimal.

"It is possible to reach such agreements with African countries. We have signed similar agreements with Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Congo and a delegation from Somalia has also asked us for a similar agreement," Bolivar revealed.

Venezuela is among world's leading oil producers and is currently helping most countries, which suffered the Katrina destruction rebuild their gas supply channels.

Bolivar said his country was very interested in improving ties with African countries, including signing oil supply contracts similar to agreements it has signed with India.

"We are very interested in deepening relations in order to increase trade relations. We are looking at cooperation with Kenya on energy and cooperation in other fields that our delegation would identify," Bolivar said during talks with the Kenyan minister.

Kenyan officials said the framework cooperation accord would open doors for further discussions on possible technical adjustments on exploration of natural gas resources.

"If we can benefit from the agreements such as the ones that India has on oil, we would want to do that. We want to compare notes more often because we have had diplomatic ties for more than 20 years but it has not been very aggressive," Tuju said.

"We want to discuss further details on this agreement and see if we can benefit from technical support in oil exploration," Tuju added.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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