Iran, Venezuela launch joint development bank

Iran and Venezuela on Friday inaugurated a joint bank to finance their development projects, during a visit by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Tehran, state media reported.

The Iran-Venezuela bank, based in Tehran, has an initial capital base of 200 million dollars, with each nation providing half of the funds, the state broadcaster said.

"The capital will be raised to 1.2 billion dollars with the aim of supporting joint economic, industrial and mining projects as well as speeding up the current projects," the report said.

Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended the opening ceremony.

The creation of the bank was announced in May 2008, following up on an agreement which the two countries signed in March 2007.

Iran and Venezuela, whose outspoken president has turned into a hero figure for many in the Middle East, have forged increasingly strong ties based on their opposition to the United States.

The two countries have vowed to further strengthen ties and find common ways to cope with the global economic crisis.

"Iran and Venezuela ties have introduced a common revolutionary front ... in the world," Ahmadinejad said on Thursday in a meeting with Chavez, who is on his sixth visit to Tehran after an Arab-South American summit in Doha.

Chavez was quoted as saying that the two countries should "further strengthen their trade cooperation."

Chavez is a vocal cheerleader in Latin America for Iran and its nuclear program, which the West suspects to be a cover for weapons development although Tehran insists it is purely peaceful.