Venezuela, Argentina relaunch presidents' quarterly meeting

Venezuela and Argentina relaunched the presidents' quarterly meeting Thursday morning on the sidelines of a summit of the leaders of 33 Latin American and Caribbean nations here.The meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), expected to be held Friday in the capital city of Caracas, would supplant the Rio Group and the Latin American and Caribbean Summit.In June, Venezuela suspended the regional summit and President Hugo Chavez's quarterly meeting with his Argentine counterpart Cristina Fernandez as Chavez was diagnosed with cancer and received treatment including surgery and chemotherapy in Cuba.The quarterly meetings between the two presidents were initiated in 2008, shortly after Fernandez took office, with an aim to discuss main issues in the two countries' cooperation.During the sixth quarterly meeting, the two leaders reached more than 30 agreements concerning bilateral cooperation in such fields as trade, energy, science and technology, food, social security and politics.The two South American countries also inked an agreement over joint works on the exploitation and development of deposits in the Orinoco Oil Belt in southeast Venezuela.Political analysts said the CELAC, which includes every nation in the region except the United States and Canada, highlighted that Latin American leaders hope to forge a new alliance similar to the Organization of American States (OAS).Latin American leaders have accused the OAS of being a mouthpiece of the United States and are thinking of forming a new alliance to counter U.S. influence.