www.managerland.es BOGOTA, 27 (EUROPA PRESS)

El alto representante para la Política Exterior y de Seguridad Común (PESC) de la Unión Europea (UE), Javier Solana, instó a la comunidad internacional a intensificar su respaldo a la gestión mediadora que el secretario general de la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA), César Gaviria, lleva a cabo en Venezuela, en una entrevista publicada ayer por la revista colombiana 'El Espectador'.

"Gaviria viene desarrollando una labor incansable y extraordinariamente difícil, dado el grado de polarización a que ha llegado Venezuela. El trabajo de Gaviria merece un fuerte respaldo internacional, un apoyo directo que el Grupo de Países Amigos de Venezuela le va a prestar a partir de ahora", prometió.

Solana también calificó de "buena fórmula" e "iniciativa muy oportuna" la composición del Grupo de Países Amigos de Venezuela --Brasil, Chile, España, Estados Unidos, México y Portugal--, que trata de buscar fórmulas para superar la crisis venezolana.

Asimismo, enfatizó que aunque la UE no participa en el Grupo, sí estará "en todo momento apoyando a los dos Estados miembros que van a formar parte de él (España y Portugal), los cuáles van a actuar en estrecho contacto con el resto".

COLOMBIA

Por otra parte, Solana manifestó que la UE también apoyaría la labor de Cuba, España, Francia, Noruega y Suiza, que integran el grupo de "cinco países amigos" que facilitó las conversaciones del ex presidente Andrés Pastrana con la guerrilla del Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN). "Siempre estaremos dispuestos a apoyar a Colombia, siempre lo hemos manifestado", dijo.

Finalmente, predijo que "en un futuro, cuando cambien las circunstancias", la UE podría modificar su decisión de exigir visado a los ciudadanos colombianos que pretenden ingresar en territorio comunitario.

"En cualquier caso, no se trata de penalizar a Colombia ni de cerrar las puertas de Europa a sus ciudadanos, sino de tomar ciertas precauciones para impedir actividades ilícitas que perjudican a Colombia y a Europa", explicó.

www.managerland.es PORTO ALEGRE (BRASIL), Jan 26 (EUROPA PRESS)

El presidente venezolano, Hugo Chávez, insistió hoy en ampliar el Grupo de Países Amigos de Venezuela, impulsado por el mandatario brasileño Luis Ignacio 'Lula' da Silva y que acoge a los Gobiernos de Brasil, Chile, México, España, Estados Unidos y Portugal para mediar en la crisis de su país.

"Creemos que el grupo debe ampliarse porque Venezuela tiene muchos amigos en el mundo", dijo Chávez, al citar países como China, Rusia, Colombia, Libia, Cuba y Egipto.

"No cabríamos en Caracas si convocara a todos los amigos del mundo que tiene Venezuela. China es un Gobierno muy amigo de Venezuela, y el pueblo chino; el pueblo ruso, y el presidente (Vladimir) Putin; el pueblo saudí y el rey (Fahd); el pueblo libio y Muamar Gadafi; el pueblo cubano y Fidel Castro; el pueblo colombiano y el presidente (Alvaro) Uribe", dijo Chávez. Y aún añadió que tiene amigos de Africa, Argelia, Egipto, Nigeria y Malasia.

www.riyadhdaily.com.sa Davos, Switzerland [AFP]......................

The president of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on Saturday the oil cartel could consider a cut in output when it meets in March, to counter a potential surplus in supply. "By March we will see a three million (barrels per day, bpd) surplus... For sure if there is a surplus we will look at cutting (output)," OPEC President Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah told AFP. He was speaking on the margins of a meeting on security of oil supply in the light of a possible war on Iraq, on the third day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Attiyah, who is Qatar’s Minister of Energy and Industry, told the forum there was speculation that a US-led war on Iraq could take 2.5 million bpd off the market and OPEC had reacted to balance demand and supply by raising production several times over past months. But OPEC customers were not short of oil. "There is no shortage of supply," he said. I asked (consumers) one question: ‘Do you need more oil... ?’ They answered no.

"On March 11, when OPEC will meet again, I think they (OPEC) will face a lot of difficulties with a huge surplus of oil." The possibility of an end to a lengthy oil workers’ strike in heavyweight Venezuela and the reduction in the need for heating fuel as the northern hemisphere winter drew to a close meant there could be two million bpd back on the market shortly, he said. Attiyah said fears about security of supply-that this week pushed world oil prices beyond the OPEC price band of 22-28 dollars a barrel to around 33 dollars-were not always well founded. "Security of supply will be questioned continuously, sometimes for reality and sometimes for business, sometimes for speculations on future markets. We will see many people making a lot of profits, a lot of money in the name of security of supply," he said. In New York, light sweet crude March-dated contracts rose to 33.28 dollars per barrel on Friday. The price of benchmark Brent North Sea crude oil for March delivery closed up at 30.25 dollars per barrel in London.

Traders said no-one wanted to be short ahead ahead of a key report on Monday by the chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix on his team’s work in Iraq, which Washington accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction. Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Nuaimi told the Davos meeting OPEC’s aim was to reduce the world price of crude oil to 25 dollars a barrel. "We will try to get it back to 25," he said. Nuaimi said the threat of a US-led war on Iraq was pushing world crude prices higher because of fears that the Gulf region would be unable to deliver, although history had always proved the contrary. He said there were many variables affecting the price of oil and all OPEC could do was to act on those that were within its power. "We have no control if someone decides to pick a war with someone else that is a major producer. All we can do is see if we can replace that supply," he added. Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil producer and exporter and Iraq possesses the globe’s second largest proven reserves.

www.voanews.com VOA News 26 Jan 2003, 22:59 UTC

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says his country's oil production output is now over one million barrels per day, despite an eight-week-old anti-government general strike.

Mr. Chavez, who is in Porto Alegre for the World Social Forum, told reporters Sunday that within a month Venezuela should manage to boost production to 2.7 million barrels a day.

The strike is aimed at forcing Mr. Chavez to resign or call early elections. Before the strike, Venezuela produced about three million barrels of oil a day and was the world's fifth largest oil exporter, mainly to the United States.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports opponents of President Chavez renewed their protests on a major Caracas highway Sunday.

The protest began the night before as hundreds of thousands of people danced to the sound of salsa music. They also set up tents and inflatable mattresses along the 24-kilometer stretch of highway.

The demonstration was officially called to protest a Supreme Court decision to stop a referendum on the president's term, which the opposition had hoped to hold February second.

Last week, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter proposed a plan to end the political crisis in Venezuela while attending negotiations between the government and opposition. The former president's Atlanta-based Carter Center, along with the United Nations and the Organization of American States, are co-sponsoring the talks.

President Chavez, in an interview published Saturday in a Canadian newspaper, La Presse of Montreal, called the Carter proposals "interesting" but not necessarily new ideas that should be discussed with the democratic opposition.

www.afxpress.com

DAVOS (AFX) - US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Iraq has "failed the test" and that the current situation "cannot be allowed to continue".

Speaking at the World Economic Forum here, Powell said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein continues "to pose a grave danger to international peace and security".

"Clearly time is running out," he said.

He added that Hussein's "naked defiance" of the UN resolution 1441 on disarmament compromises the authority of the security council.

"We will not shrink from war if it is the only way" to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, he said, although the US is still prepared to wait for diplomacy to act for the time being.

He said that Iraq's 12,000-page weapons declaration to the UN "utterly failed to meet the requirements of being accurate, full and complete".

"Iraq attempted to conceal with volume what it lacked in veracity," Powell told the Forum. "It has failed the test."

Powell demanded to see evidence that Iraq had destroyed "tens of thousands of litres of anthrax" and botulism toxin which can be used in biological weapons.

Three tonnes of growth agent used to make biological weapons, and 30,000 munitions capable of carrying chemical weapons, were also unaccounted for, Powell said.

He also played down differences with European leaders over Iraq, following declarations by French and German leaders rejecting military intervention, but warned that the US was prepared to act alone.

When the US "feels strongly, we will lead. We will act even if others are not prepared to join us," he said.