Argentina, Venezuela move to boost bilateral trade

BUENOS AIRES (Xinhua) -- The governments of Argentina and Venezuela on Tuesday signed a package of agreements on furthering bilateral trade.

"The agreements will allow us to considerably increase Argentine sales to Venezuela," said Argentine Industry Minister Debora Giorgi after meeting with her Venezuelan counterpart Edmee Betancourt.

Under the agreements, Venezuela will import 16,900 cars worth 200 million U.S. dollars from Argentina during the remainder of 2011. The trade deal is expected to help boost exports by 30 percent by the Argentine manufacturing sector.

Giorgi also signed an agreement with Venezuela's Health Minister Eugenia Sader to increase Argentine sales of hospital and special medical equipment to Venezuela, with the value estimated at 400 million dollars.

The signing of the agreements was part of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's current tour to Latin America.

Bilateral trade between Argentina and Venezuela increased to 1.45 billion dollars in 2010 from just 149 million dollars in 2003.

Argentina's exports to Venezuela surged 35 percent, from 1.04 billion dollars in 2009 to 1.41 billion dollars in 2010, while Argentina's imports from Venezuela rose 39 percent to 21 million dollars from 15 million dollars.

Source: Xinhua News