Controversial Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez met with controversial Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad in Iran on Tuesday. The two countries share more than just a love of controversy though, with talks expected o center of the their gas, oil and petrochemical sectors.
Chavez was met at the airport by Industry Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian when he arrived early Tuesday for the two-day visit. The two leaders have met on a number of occasions, and regularly back each other over contentious issues, such as nuclear power.
"We feel at home here and among our brothers ... we're going to be together until the end," commented Ahmedinejad when he was in Venezuela last year.
It was also reported last week that Russia had agreed to help the South American nation in constructing its first nuclear power facility, as well as purchasing more than $1 billion in oil assets.
The deal, which took place in the Kremlin was declared by Russian President as a “strategic partnership” where "Both Russia and Venezuela favor the development of a modern and just world order -- a world order in which our future does not depend on the will or desire of any one country, its well-being or its mood," said the Russian president, in an obvious allusion to the US.
Chavez is expected to center talks while in Iran on cooperation and expansion in their oil and gas industries, but with two such figures under the same roof, some controversial remarks are also to be expected.
