Brazil to fund shipyard in Venezuela

Brazil's development bank BNDES has announced that it will pay for building a US$1 billion shipyard in Venezuela. LR-Fairplay said the deal was discussed by Venezuela President Hugo Chavez and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during talks in Brasilia. The yard will be built by an as-yet-undetermined Brazilian company, an aide to Lula told the Mercantile Monitor newspaper.
The ships built there will be used to service Brazil's huge pre-salt offshore oilfields, said Marco Aurelio Garcia, the aide.
The decision to build the yard in Venezuela is aimed at stimulating shipbuiding in other parts of Latin America, Garcia said.
"This is very important because it demonstrates that the development of Brazil pulls in the other countries in the region," he added. Garcia stressed that Brazil does not want to be "an industrialised island, surrounded by countries with economic difficulties".
No details were given about where or when the yard would be built.