President Hugo Chavez Frias to meet Colombian counterpart

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, April 03, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

President Hugo Chavez Frias is set to meet his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe on April 23 in the Venezuelan town of San Cristobal, according to a statement from the Colombian Foreign Ministry.

During the meeting the two leaders will discuss border security and in particular the activities of Colombian guerilla groups in the area.

Colombian officials have complained that Venezuela is not doing enough to prevent these groups from setting up bases in Venezuela, but efforts to prevent this appear to have been stepped up recently with Venezuela's army being called into action several times over the past few weeks.

Also tabled for discussion will be bilateral trade issues, which have become more worrying since the two month long opposition work stoppage and the seven week old foreign currency trading suspensions.

Colombian exports to Venezuela have fallen significantly over the past few months due to the Venezuelan economic and political crisis.