Ahmadinejad opens wallet for Bolivia on visit to South America

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pledged 1 billion dollars for the development of Bolivia's economy and pledged to work more closely and fight imperialism with its leader and the president of Venezuela during visits to La Paz and Caracas. At his meeting Thursday with Bolivia's leftist president, Evo Morales, agreements on cooperation in the oil and gas industry, mining and agriculture were signed. "I want to say loud and clear that the Iranian people and government stand always by the side of Bolivia's people and administration," Ahmadinejad said at a press conference. The visit also formalized the re-establishment of relations between the two countries. In Caracas, agreements on cooperation in the fields of petrochemicals and the production of car parts were signed late Thursday between Venezuela and Iran, which are united in their criticism of the US administration. Leftist-populist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Ahmadinejad's closest ally in South American, lauded the Iranian president, who was making his third visit to the South American country in a year, as "a great fighter against imperialism and for peace." Ahmadinejad spoke of "the end of an era of exploitation and imperialism" as well as "clear signs of an awakening and a revolution that would unite the different peoples of the world." He would work together with his "brother" Chavez to support the oppressed people of the world and resist imperialism to the end, said the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who made his quick trip Thursday to South America after a visit to New York and the United Nations. Venezuela and Iran have recently signed 164 cooperation agreements in the fields of energy, industry, trade and residential construction. Their two presidents also agreed at the beginning of the year to establish a 2-billion-dollar fund to help other countries free themselves from "the yoke of imperialism." Both countries are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. dpa er/ro ls