Colombia President Alvaro Uribe and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez signed five agreements Tuesday during their brief meeting in Caracas.
The signing of the documents came at the end of Alvaro’s day-long visit to Venezuela’s capital.
The five agreements include a license allowing Venezuela to import 10,000 vehicles, a letter of intention to establish a joint line of credit to boost trade, and a letter of intention to evaluate the possibility of using local currency when trading between the two countries.
The motor vehicle import license ends Venezuela’s vehicle export suspension with Colombia. In 2008, Colombia exported 15,000 vehicles to Venezuela, compared with 45,000 the previous year.
Additionally, the two leaders agreed to establish a bilateral fund as soon as possible, which was discussed at their meeting in January in Cartagena. The fund, estimated at approximately 2 billion USD, seeks to promote and finance projects related to transportation, health care, the environment, education, and agriculture, among others.
The objective of the creation of a line of shared credit is intended to drive imports and exports of small and medium-sized companies in both countries.
Finally, an agreement to run energy from Colombia’s Puerto Iniria to Venezuela’s San Fernando de Atabapo was signed.
In 2008 commercial trade between Venezuela and Colombia measured 7.4 billion USD.