Venezuela and Russia have signed an agreement aimed at strengthening bilateral relations and cooperation in a wide range of fields, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Friday.

Venezuelan Vice President Jose Rangel and visiting Russian Vice Premier Alexander Zhukov signed the document at the end of the second Russia-Venezuela Inter-governmental Meeting (CIAN) which closed on Thursday.

Zhukov said Russia hoped to expand bilateral trade with Venezuela, which reached 65.5 million US dollars during the first 10 months of this year, compared with 67 million dollars in 2004.

Russia is particularly interested in expanding cooperation with Venezuela on energy exploration, said Zhukov, hailing the successful cooperation in business, infrastructure and finance.

During the high-level meeting, officials examined the progress of the 37 existing agreements between the two countries, mostly on fields of military technology and energy.

Relations between Venezuela and Russia have been sweetened since Chavez and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in 2001 sealed a guideline deal -- the Joint Declaration -- which created the framework for exchanging energy products. Both countries are substantial oil producers.

As part of the new deal, Caracas will receive in December 30,000 AK-103 assault rifles and the first three of 10 helicopters Caracas has purchased from Russia. The remaining helicopters are set to arrive by March next year.

Separately, the Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela has signed a deal with Russia's Lukoil Overseas Holdings to survey the crude reserves in the eastern Venezuelan deposit Bloque Junin III.

Source: Xinhua