Caracas.- Venezuela and the People's Republic of China are considering the drafting of new trade investment and cooperation agreements, said Venezuelan Trade Minister Déme Betancourt.
She referred to the matter at the end of a meeting with Chinese Deputy Trade Minister Chen Jian, and said that these new agreements will be presented in November during the 11th session of the China-Venezuela Joint High Level Commission.Betancourt said that in the meeting with Chen they discussed strategies to promote marketing of Venezuelan goods in China in order to balance imports and exports.
"Our presence in this market must be broadened and intensified, and for that purpose we have scheduled meetings with the Foreign Trade Bank (Bancoex), in charge with Venezuelan policies in the field," she said as quoted by the Venezuelan News Agency (AVN).
She said that the delegation led by Chen assessed the progress of projects with Chinese investment in Venezuela, including works for the generation and distribution of electric power, cell phone plants, home appliances and cars, as well as the Planicie de Maracaibo irrigation systems, in Zulia state, and another two in Guarico state.
She said that work meetings will be held to prepare the new agreements, attended by business representatives from the two countries "to know their needs, support their development plans and encourage economic complementariness."
The Venezuelan minister announced that government authorities are considering the possibility to use a mechanism similar to the ALBA-promoted Unified Regional Compensation Payment System (SUCRE), as a virtual currency for transactions, an initiative under evaluation by the Ministry of Planning and Finances and the Central Bank of Venezuela.
