Venezuela's Chavez meets Lukashenko for one-to-one talks

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in Belarus Friday as part of a three-country non-aligned nation trip.

The outspoken Venezuelan leader was in one-on-one talks with Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko, who like Chavez has been shunned by Western governments.

Chavez had visited Russia's parliament - the Duma - earlier in the day, and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday.

The Friday arrival in Minsk was Chavez's second visit to the former Soviet republic Belarus. His itinerary called for a subsequent stop in Iran - like Belarus a country politically isolated from major Western nations.

Belarus and Venezuela have seen an upturn in trade recently, with Belarusian industry providing the Venezuelan army night vision devices and an agreement for Belarusian energy companies to develop a Venezuelan oil field.

"Our positions are absolutely identical," a beaming Lukashenko told reporters. "Our relations have now reached the level of strategic partnership. "

Lukashenko and Chavez were set to chair a joint meeting of Belarusian and Venezuelan delegations later in the evening.

Aside from energy industry equipment and military supplies, goods and services newly traded between the two countries include fertilizer, heavy dump trucks, lorries, tractors, and agricultural products.

"We together with Belarus are going forward with a 'wide front', and we have developed this trade in less than a year, after starting practically from zero," Lukashenko said.

During his visit to Moscow Chavez told reporters his country was interested in purchasing Russian diesel-electric submarines. He also called for greater cooperation between Venezuela's energy industry, and the Russian fossil fuel giants Gazprom and Lukoil.