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• 11 / 06 / 2007

And Iran and Venezuela are considering finalizing a similar agreement, Iran's Finance Minister Massoud Mir-Kazemi said. He made the comments after returning home from the second Business Forum of the Non-Aligned Countries Movement held in Havana, Cuba from Nov. 1 to 3.

Iran and Cuba signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish the joint shipping line. In addition, contracts on transport and the specific industries for which Cuba needs Iranian investment have been signed as well, Mir-Kazemi said, Iran's independent Fars News Agency reported Monday.

Of the contract between Cuba and Iran Mir-Kazemi was quoted by Iran's Press TV as saying, "Both countries have important business ties. Cuba needs train wagons and other Iranian products, and we are interested in Havana's well-developed biology projects."

He said both that deal and the pending one between Tehran and Caracas could enhance trade between Iran and other Latin American countries as well.

"Venezuela intends to purchase Iranian agricultural products and construction materials. So, the deal will also help boost Iran-Venezuela trade relations," he added.

There is no word yet on how the United States government will react to the new trade deals between Iran and Latin America. But the U.S. in general and the Bush administration specifically, have not been friendly toward Cuba, Iran or Venezuela.

The U.S. has trade and other sanctions in place against Cuba, which on Oct. 31 the United Nations General Assembly voted in favor of the U.S. ending.

As far as U.S.-Iran relations are concerned, most recently, the U.S. Congress voted to declare Iran's Revolutionary Guard troops a terrorist organization. It has also accused Iran of, among other things, arming insurgents in Iraq and the U.S. has actively called for U.N. sanctions against it for developing a nuclear program.

And concerning U.S.-Venezuela relations, the antagonism existing between Bush and President Hugo Chavez reached a new low earlier this year when Chavez, in an address to the United Nations said Bush, who had spoken earlier, was the devil and had filled the General Assembly Hall with the odor of sulfur.

Source: By Linda Young, AHN