Remarks by Hugo Chavez and Thabo Mbeki

President Thabo Mbeki: Let me start by saying once again a very warm welcome to President Hugo Chavez and the important delegation that accompanied him here. We have been looking forward to the President's visit for some time. And I'm very glad that indeed he has been able to make it. We have agreed with President Chavez that the relationship between South Africa and Venezuela should indeed assume a strategic character. The President has insisted that the agreements that we reach and the work that we do should be informed by real, actual and practical attention to strengthen this relationship. And I think you can see that from the documents that have been signed which include a global agreement, then various matters that have to do with energy and various elements of the energy. We've also agreed that we must conclude another agreement before the end of this year which deals with economic cooperation across the field. We've also agreed that we should negotiate another agreement which deals with matters of telecommunication broadcasting, information technology and so on, as well as an agreement to deal with issues of cooperation in the area of arts and culture. So as you can see, this is a relationship that is built so that it relates to all elements of humanity. We'll work on it in a way that seeks to achieve practical results. Our discussions also gave us the possibility to look beyond the bilateral relations - the situation in South America, the situation in the continent and the situation globally. We agreed that it is critically important that as we build this partnership between ourselves, we should also do it in the context of further strengthening South-South cooperation.Let me say that we are indeed pleased that the President could come. We are very pleased with the outcomes of the discussions which indeed confirm that we have this possibility as these two countries to build a relationship that will be mutually beneficial. But also a relationship that would make an impact in terms of the further empowerment of the countries of the South.