In the economic sphere, the key item is Venezuela's planned entry into Mercosur, the economic bloc formed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The governments of all four Mercosur founding countries approved Venezuelan membership of the bloc some time ago, but entry has yet to happen.
The chief reason for that is slow movement towards ratification in the Brasilia Parliament, according to Brazilian presidential spokesman Marcelo Baumbach. In addition, some technical details of membership still have to be settled. For the moment, Venezuela has associate status with Mercosur.
Expectations are that the two leaders will sign an agreement on inter-connection in electricity supply, and discuss ways of pushing joint deals between Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and Petrobras on commercializing natural gas and a refinery at Pernambuco.
Lula was recently reported to have criticized the two state corporations for not making more progress towards an agreement on joint projects. However, PDVSA's hopes of exporting oil to Brazil suffered a setback earlier this year when it was announced that a giant offshore oil field had been discovered.
Away from economic issues, reports suggest Lula and Chavez will also discuss problems centered on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and efforts to secure the release of hostages held by the guerrillas. While Brasilia says it's willing to cooperate in efforts to free the hostages, it says the FARC itself as an internal affair in Colombia.
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