IRAQ: VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH SADDAM HUSSEIN 1

(10 Aug 2000) Spanish/Nat
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was in Iraq for meetings with Saddam Hussein on Thursday, after driving across the border from Iran.
He's the first head of state to visit Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War.
Iraq welcomed the visit as a thaw in the international isolation it has experienced since it invaded Kuwait.
Chavez's trip to the Middle East was designed to drum up support for a summit of Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Caracas later next month.
Chavez was driven across the border in a black Iranian government limousine from Iran at al-Mundhariya, 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of Baghdad, respecting the U-N ban on flights to and from Iraq.
Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, accompanied by Cabinet ministers and senior members of the ruling Baath party, received Chavez at al-Mundhariya.
Before boarding a helicopter for Baghdad, Chavez added he was impressed by what he had so far seen of Iraq - the hilly region near the Iranian border - and by "the warmth" of his welcome.
Chavez's trip to the Middle East was designed to drum up support for a summit of Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Caracas on September the 27th.
Saddam, who rarely leaves Baghdad because of security fears, was unlikely to accept the summit invitation. But Chavez's visit nonetheless has borne fruit in Iraq.
Iraqi Oil Ministry officials have said they regard Venezuela, previously a notorious buster of OPEC production quotas, as an "oil-producing partner" with whom they can coordinate plans to counter the influence of heavyweight Saudi Arabia.
Chavez's visit appears to have made Iraq change its view on his proposal for an oil price band under which OPEC members would automatically increase production if prices rose too high and decrease if prices got too low.
Iraq had in the past rejected the idea, which OPEC has tried before.
Chavez said he was determined to defend the price of a barrel of oil, which he regards as of paramount importance to their people.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"The great necessity for all our peoples is to defend the price of oil. That will be the central theme. There will be other things as well. I don't want to get ahead of myself. I have been impressed by the warmth and affection of the people here and their fighting spirit.
SUPER CAPTION: Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan President
The president's tour has taken him to Kuwait, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates this week.
Unlike these OPEC states, Iraq is not part of the cartel's quota system but its exports of nearly 2.6 million barrels a day under a U.N. aid program can in no way be ignored.
A senior official at Iraq's Oil Ministry, Faleh al-Khayat, said Iraq is determined to produce and export as much as possible to maximize its earnings, which are used mainly for the purchase of food, medicine and other essential goods to ease the plight of sanctions-hit Iraqis.
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