PRESS RELEASE
Bolivia Prioritizes Its Alliance With BRICS Nations To Ensure Real Development
April 28, 2016 (EIRNS)—Against the backdrop of tumultuous developments in Ibero-America—efforts to impeach Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff, and increasing chaos in Venezuela—Bolivia’s Planning Minister Rene Orellana told the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina in an interview published April 27, that his country has prioritized its alliance with the BRICS "alternative economic center" to guarantee economic progress.
Bolivia, Orellana said, recognizes the importance of a multipolar world, and through its cooperation with BRICS nations, has planned or begun impressive infrastructure projects that will benefit the nation and the region. He underscored the importance of the "brotherly" relationship with Brazil, for example, with which Bolivia’s Evo Morales government is cooperating on building a transcontinental railroad. Russia’s nuclear energy agency, Rosatom, is helping to build a state-of-the-art Nuclear Technology Research and Development Center in El Alto, near La Paz; and China has established a long-term alliance with Bolivia to cooperate in science and technology, energy, finances, and training of personnel, among many other areas.
Yesterday, the government signed a contract with the Beijing Urban Construction Group Co. for the design and construction of a $1 billion airport in the industrial city of Santa Cruz, intended to be a regional hub, and for which China’s Eximbank is expected to provide part of the financing.
Orellana noted that Bolivia’s relations with India are less developed, but that there is great interest on both sides in expanding them. On April 26 in La Paz, the National Chamber of Commerce sponsored a seminar on "Doing Business with India," attended by representatives of Indian and Bolivian private and public sector companies, government ministries, as well as Indian Ambassador Sandeep Chakravorty, Prensa Latina reported. Chakravorty said his government is interested in participating in Bolivian infrastructure and technology projects and in training personnel. The transcontinental railway project is also of great interest to India, he added, pointing out that India has great experience in the area of railway construction.
