The presidents of Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela said on Thursday their countries' plan to build a network of pipelines will be ready by late July.

It was the leaders' fourth meeting within one year to discuss the 8,000-km gas pipeline which Venezuela wants to build from Caracas to Buenos Aires through Brazil's Amazon rain forest.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said all participants will benefit from the initiative. The pipeline will cost about 20 billion U.S. dollars and can be built in five to seven years.

Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and his Argentina counterpart Nestor Kirchner instructed their energy ministers to give priority to the project.

The leaders said they will meet again in Mendoza, Argentina in March to review technical plans being prepared by the three nations' state-owned oil companies. The studies for the project were expected to end by late July and be presented to the public.

The three presidents also discussed the nations' cooperation agreements in education and economy, and political situation in the southern part of South America.

Source: Xinhua