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Caracas, Hanoi Agree on Energy Cooperation

The governments of Venezuela and Vietnam on Monday signed an energy cooperation agreement during a visit of President Hugo Chavez to the communist nation. The Vietnamese gave Chavez military honors as he traveled to the only Asian stop on his world tour of countries that have, or have had, bad relations with Washington, his declared enemy - though America claims to have no desire for a fight with Caracas. Vietnam and the United States, though have seen significantly warm relations as of late, with U.S. naval ships being welcomed into Vietnamese ports.

The firebrand Latin American leader flew in from Iran after visiting the Islamic Republic and receiving the nation`s highest honor after meeting with the now-hospitalized Cuban President Fidel Castro in Argentina.. Chavez has also visited Belarus and Russia on his worldwide tour, he sealed a major arms deal with Moscow while in the Russian Federation, much to the chagrin of the U.S. government. The Hanoi-Caracas agreement between a major exporter of oil to the U.S. had yet to receive a reaction from Washington by press time.

Chavez reportedly told Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet of Vietnam that "Although this is my first trip to Vietnam, we feel the similarities between our two countries like fish coming back to the water. Vietnam has been very courageous to defeat colonialism and imperialism, not just on the battlefield but also by keeping the flag flying in the field of ideology. Since I was a child, and also as a soldier, I have admired the courage of the Vietnamese soldiers."