Venezuela: Venezuelan investments are helping fight poverty in northeastern Brazil

Major Venezuelan investments are helping fight poverty in northeastern Brazil, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told his radio show Coffee With the President on Monday.

"Everything points to the northeast changing radically for the better. These major public works will create jobs, hope, income and investment," said Lula.

Xinhua reports that accompanied by his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez, Lula visited the northeastern region to formally break ground on the Abreu de Lima refinery joint venture and Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) projects in the province of Pernambuco.

"These works are extremely important because they have been sought for 30 or 40 years, and no one prioritized them until we began the PAC program," he said.