CARACAS, April 7. —On an official visit to Venezuela, Uruguayan president José Pepe Mujica and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chávez bet on the Latin American unity after signing eight strategic agreements on exchanges in different areas aiming at strengthening bilateral relations.

After signing the agreements, both delegations attended an activity where the Uruguayan leader was presented with the Venezuela´s highest honor, the Order of the Liberator and a replica of the sword used by South American independence hero Simón Bolivar in order to pay tribute to the Uruguayan leader.

In this regard, Mujica said: "For me, this is a tribute of the Venezuelan to the Uruguayan people, so I am deeply grateful."

Chávez noted that "we have to make it possible that the day of the Our America is this, it started with Tabaré Vázquez´s administration five years ago, when you, Pepe, were the Agriculture minister."

"With Tabaré, we began to pave that way; we set the foundations, a solid base. Let’s look ahead and build a new and more complete formula on the battle field." Chavez said.

Among the accords is a cooperation agreement on food security and sovereignty, as well as a letter of intent in order to create a bi-national enterprise for commercial affairs.

Both countries also signed an agreement between Venezuela’s Ministry of Commerce and the Uruguayan Ministry of Economy and Finances for the approval of import licences for vehicles made in Uruguay