Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has arrived in Teheran for talks with Iranian leaders expected to focus on efforts to boost cooperation between the allies' oil, gas and petrochemical industries.
Iranian state television says Chavez was greeted by Industry Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian at Teheran's Mehrabad airport upon arrival early Tuesday morning.
RELATED:Hugo Chavez to talk with Jewish leaders in VenezuelaChavez will reportedly hold talks with his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during his two-day visit. The Venezuelan leader backed Iran in its confrontation with the West over Teheran's disputed nuclear program.
Last year, Ahmadinejad visited Latin America and met with Chavez there.
"We feel at home here and among our brothers ... we're going to be together until the end," Ahmadinejad said at the time, as both leaders roundly denounced US "imperialism," and Chavez also called Israel "a murderous arm of the Yankee empire."
Last week, it was reported that Russia had agreed to help construct Venezuela's first nuclear power plant and purchase $1.6 billion worth of oil assets.
According to Reuters, Chavez was present at the deal which took place at a Kremlin ceremony with Russia President Dmitry Medvedev. Medvedev declared that Russia shares a "strategic partnership" and US influence-free world vision.
"Both Russia and Venezuela favor the development of a modern and just
world order -- a world order in which our future does not depend on the
will or desire of any one country, its well-being or its mood," Medvedev
said.
After Medvedev spoke, Russian nuclear agency chief Sergei Kiriyenko and
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro signed a deal on "the
construction and use of an atomic power station on the territory of
Venezuela."