Venezuela to be int'l financial epicentre

Venezuela: Vene-zuela can become a center of the international financial exchange in Latin America, said Friday the director of the Group of Social Investigations 21 (GSI21), Nelson Merentes.

"In all crises, there are opportunities, and Venezuela has the one of being an epicentre of reception of emergent capitals," Merentes stated to Prensa Latina.

He remembered when Venezuela bought the debt of Argentina and then sold it in a secondary market. Argentina had this way its liquidity, and we had an important gain, he said.

"This way -he stated - a new form of making exchanges between two countries was created.

"Then the Bond of the South appeared, a debt instrument between Caracas and Buenos Aires," Merentes added. "In a little time we could become a kind of bank in Latin America."

"Another example that justifies our important list in the world financial system is the foundation of a Venezuelan-Iranian bank, the monetary agreements with China, and those of cooperation with Russia and Brazil," he stated.

"Fortunately, Venezuela is linked to the world centers where there is liquidity, and we have liquidity as much in bolivares as in dollars," he emphasized.

Venezuela has also developed the idea of the Bank of the South, Bank of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America, a bank with Iran and the Chinese Fund, demonstrating the strength of the national financial architecture.

In these moments the entities should be energized and make the institutions more operative, and look for an invigoration from the integration projects at all the levels, he concluded. Caracas, Apr 2 Prensa Latina