Venezuela, Iran to loan Bolivia 225 mln dlrs for cement firm: official

AFP: Venezuela and Iran are to loan Bolivia 225 million dollars to create a state cement company for the construction of roads and houses, the deputy minister for small and medium business, Eduardo Peinado, said Saturday.

LA PAZ (AFP) — Venezuela and Iran are to loan Bolivia 225 million dollars to create a state cement company for the construction of roads and houses, the deputy minister for small and medium business, Eduardo Peinado, said Saturday.

The deal was made between Bolivian President Evo Morales, Venezuelan ambassador Julio Montes Prado and an Iranian business official Hojjatollah Soltani, he said.

Bolivia, South America's poorest nation, has formed strong ties with Venezuela under Morales.

The Bolivian leader has modelled socialist reforms in his country's after those of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who enjoys strong commercial ties with Iran.

Peinado said the state company to be formed would use the credit to build two plants in the southern Andean cities of Oruru and Potosi that would produce a total 700,000 tons of cement per year.

The deal has a political dimension: One of Morales's political opponents, Samuel Doria Medina, currently controls cement production in Bolivia through several private companies