PR Resource – Muarateweh.net

It was only a few months ago that critics of the government’s grain export quotas were gnashing their teeth at the announcement of a virtual ban on grain exports. President Viktor Yushchenko’s Secretariat said the stiffening of the export quotas on this year’s harvest would hurt Ukraine’s bid to join the World Trade Organization. Farmers and traders recalled hundreds of millions of dollars in losses from last year’s quotas, which the government had imposed without warning. The country’s future as an international breadbasket was under threat, agricultural organizations warned.

But, now, as the country reaps another low harvest, agro-industry players are silently acknowledging the rectitude of the Cabinet’s June decision to all but halt foreign grain sales this year. And although grain traders aren’t expecting much of a relaxation of the quotas from an upcoming government review, that hasn’t dampened hopes of future profits, as global demand for grain looks to keep climbing sharply, and Ukraine’s rich soil continues to promise double the size of recent harvests. (continue reading…)

In recent years, the Russian Federation has become one of the major weapon suppliers to Latin America. This has satisfied two of Moscow’s major goals: greater profits and economy of scale for its weapons industry and the continued amplification of its presence in the region. While this does not signify that any aspiration for a return of a Soviet-style Cold War-era sphere of influence is in the offing, it is important to understand the actual depth of Russia’s burgeoning presence and the range of influence being exercised by it within the region’s military establishments. Moscow’s developing bilateral security relations with Latin American governments have become a matter of some concern for Washington.

Venezuela
The Russia-Venezuela arms trade has generated, by far, the most international attention. In 2006, Venezuela startled the world by announcing a significant weapons purchase from Moscow: 100,000 Kalishnikov assault rifles, 24 Sukhoi (SU-30) fighter jets, and 53 military helicopters. The eventual price tag on the unfolding deal came close to $3 billion. The aircraft already have begun to be delivered to Venezuela, with the first two arriving on December 8 2006, at the Lieutenant Luis del Valle Garcia Air Base.

Another component increasingly tying Caracas and Moscow together is the continuous flow of military personnel, such as pilots and technicians, flying in both directions to provide (continue reading…)

A governmental delegation of Belarus headed by state secretary of the Security Council, co-chairman of the Belarusian-Venezuelan high-level commission Victor Sheiman is staying on an official visit to Venezuela on March 19-23. The delegation includes heads of various Belarusian ministries and manufactures.

As BelTA learnt in the press service of the state secretariat of the Security Council of Belarus, the Belarusian delegation will meet with Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez and other officials to discuss a wide range of urgent issues on the development of bilateral, trade-economic, military and technical cooperation.

Members of the Belarusian delegation will conduct negotiations with their Venezuelan colleagues which will highlight cooperation in the area of petrochemistry, energy, architecture, construction, agriculture, machine-engineering. Several agreements and contacts will be signed.

Hugo Chavez paid an official visit to Belarus on July 23-25, 2006. The visit resulted in a number of bilateral agreements. The basic document signed was a joint Belarusian-Venezuelan (continue reading…)