MOSCOW, July 2 (RIA Novosti) – Venezuela and Russia have huge potential for joint investment projects, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday, the same day that Rosneft and Gazprombank signed major deals with Venezuela’s national oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela.
“Energy is an important area for joint investment projects,” Putin said after meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
“Russia’s National Oil Consortium in September 2012 launched the first oil well at the Junin-6 deposit [in Venezuela]. [Electricity trader] Inter RAO UES supplies gas turbines to Venezuela for nuclear power plants under construction there,” Putin said.
Venezuela is Russia’s key partner in Latin America, the Russian leader said, adding that bilateral trade exceeded $2 billion in 2012 and tripled in January through April this year. Russian investment in the Venezuelan economy has reached $21 billion, he said.
Putin also said the two nations had great potential for industrial partnerships.
“Russia and Venezuela are implementing joint projects in the auto industry, machine-building, transportation and infrastructure,” he said, adding that Russian truck maker KamAZ planned to set up a joint venture with Venezuela to produce trucks and buses.
