Newswire: South-South Cooperation

[Peru – Brazil] - Eletrobrás sets sights on Peruvian generator – BNAmericas

Brazilian federal power holding company Eletrobrás (NYSE: EBR) is planning to buy a Peruvian generator to participate in an upcoming hydro auction in Peru, company CEO José Antonio Muniz Lopes told journalists. The executive declined to say which generator Eletrobrás was looking to acquire but said the purchase was essential for the Brazilian holding group to operate in Peru.


[Peru – Brazil] – Brazil, Peru Work Out Details of Hydro Plants – Latin American Herald

Energy ministers from Brazil and Peru announced details of plans for several hydroelectric plants to be built in the Andean nation, saying after a meeting that 80 percent of the energy generated by the stations would go to Brazil and the rest to Peru.

Both partners will have the right to sell their respective energy quotas to other South American countries, Brazilian Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao said Friday after a meeting in Rio de Janeiro with his Peruvian counterpart, Pedro Sanchez.

The first five power stations – to be built in Peru’s eastern lowlands at a cost of between $12-15 billion – will generate a combined total of 6,000 megawatts annually once they come on stream in 2015.


[Peru – South Korea] - Peru, S Korea examine tomorrow progress of APEC bilateral agreements – Andina

Peru and South Korea examine on Wednesday the progress of the bilateral agreements achieved by Presidents Alan Garcia and Lee Myung-bak during the summit of leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) held in Lima in November 2008, the Korean Embassy reported. "The agreement achieved last year includes mutual cooperation in oil, mineral and natural gas sectors", the Ambassy reported.


[Peru – Japan] - Peru, JICA to invest US$ 23.3 million in 6 new docks in Peru – Andina

Peru’s Government and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will invest 70 million soles (around 23.7 million dollars) in the construction of 6 new docks located along the Peruvian coast, reported today Production Minister Mercedez Araoz.


[Venezuela – Russia] - Russia Promotes “Energy Alliance” with Venezuela – Latin American Herald

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Tuesday he was ready to promote an “energy alliance” of global oil giants Russia and Venezuela, and confirmed his willingness to study Caracas’ requests for additional arms purchases.

Putin told Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez that Russia will employ “the most modern equipment and technologies” to carry out plans for cooperation with Venezuela in the oil and gas sector.


[Venezuela – Brazil] - Brazil To Export Coffee Immediately to Venezuela – Latin American Herald

The accord was struck by representatives of the ministry and the state-run firm Cafe Venezuela last Friday and represents $4.1 million in revenue for small producers and family cooperatives in southeastern Brazil.

Sino-Venezuelan Cooperation

Good old Hu Jintao and señor Chavez met in Beijing today and agreed to step up their efforts to advance cooperation in energy, agriculture and technology.

The two also agreed to take joint steps to combat the financial crisis. How they hope to achieve such a grand goal, one can not say. All in all it's not much different than all the talk that has been going on about fighting the global financial crisis.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (R) meets with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, 4/8/09. (Xinhua)

APEC, the UN, IMF, US-Euro, the "G2," etc. All these multilateral organizations and the major economies of the world seem to be making a lot of pledges these days. If anything I think its a good thing in order to restore confidence around the globe. As for this recent foray of China-Venezuelan Cooperation, it is nothing THAT special.

It indicates Chavez continues to aggressively pursue new export markets for Venezuela's oil. Chavez was in Japan earlier this week where he also succeed in getting Japan to promise over $30 billion in investments for Venezuela's oil and gas industry in exchange for guaranteeing a healthy supply for the island (see this Bloomberg article).

Chavez also thanked China for the successful launch of Venezuela's first telecommunications satellite, which according to Chavez will help the "Bolivarian Nation," (a.k.a. Venezuela) achieve scientific and technological independence (see this CNN article about the launch).

Second, it shows that even in the wake of a financial crisis, developing nations are mutually interested in building their relations for the long-term. This means that they remain optimistic about the long-term picture.

A good thing considering growth in the developing world and rising demand from domestic economies is going play a siginificant role in helping the global ecoonomy emerge from this financial crisis.

Of all the announcements, the most important would have to be Hu Jintao's rhetoric. China has its poker face on and is planning its next couple of moves VERY carefully.

The financial crisis has given it a golden opportunity to assert it self on to the world stage. Personally, I believe leaders in China would have preferred to wait a while longer before being forced onto the world stage as a major decision maker and agent of change.

By forging strong alliances with the other developing countries like Venezuela and more importantly the fellow members of the BRIC block (Brazil, Russia, India and China), Hu Jintao and the rest of China's leaders are slowly building allies to support China in a new global framwork.

South America - Arab League meet world at annual summit - MercoPress

The Arab League and South American countries will open Tuesday, their second summit with the purpose of boosting trade and cooperation. The idea of regular meetings between the 22 members of the Arab League and 12 South American countries was born in Brasilia in 2005, sponsored by Brazilian president Lula da Silva.

Although geographically very distant the two regions have long historic links in such areas as oil production (Venezuela and Saudi Arabia were five of the founding members of OPEC) and even migration: there’s a strong component of Arab descendants in South America. Sao Paulo for example is considered the second Syrian city of the world behind Damascus.

The purpose of the regular summits which includes government officials and business representatives is not only closer trade links, possibly some form of association, but also political, with strong cooperation in the international arena, according to Brazilian sources.

Click here to access the complete article from MercoPress

South-South Cooperation -- Chile and Pakistan

Eni has signed a Protocol for Cooperation with the Government of Pakistan aimed at developing new, important projects in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors in the country.

The agreement further strengthens relationships between Eni and Pakistan, as it makes available exclusively to Pakistan state oil companies the capabilities, the know how and the innovative technologies developed by Eni in the oil sector, especially in terms of efficiency in exploiting hydrocarbon fields. The agreement also enables Eni to become a strategic partner in developing the oil & gas sector in Pakistan and to enter fields which are so far managed by state-run oil companies.

Click here to access this article from Rigzone

ENERSIS (ENI) 2 year

PetroVietnam and Petroecuador sign strategic energy cooperation agreement

PetroVietnam, Petroecuador sign a strategic agreement to start cooperating in oil and gas field exploration, production, transportation, storage, processing and trading said state media on Saturday in Hanoi, Vietnam.

(Click here to view full article from smartmoney.com)

The agreement will be valid for two years, which really makes it more of a "test" to see if the two countries national oil companies can function efficiently with one another. Two years in reality is a short time period if they hope to accomplish all the above listed cooperation objectives. It will no less allow the two countries to see if this new strategic alliance is worth pursuing.

It is refreshing to read news of cooperation between countries in South America and other Asian countries aside from the China. China is undoubtedly the "juggernaut" of Asia's emerging markets, but it is hardly alone, and developments such as this are proof that South America will grow closer to Asia as a whole with time... not just the PRC (China).

China-South America Trade and Finance will continue to monitor this development between Vietnam and Ecuador, and post updates to keep readers up to date on this new trans-pacific alliance.