[QODLink]
Americas
Iran to fund Nicaraguan projects
Series of agreements signed despite warning from the United States.
Last Modified: 05 Aug 2007 03:39 GMT
Ortega, left, has increased ties with both Iran
and Venezuela in recent months [AFP]
Daniel Ortega, the Nicaraguan president, has signed a series of agreements with Iran defying pressure from the United States.

Iranian officials promised to help fund a new ocean port and build 10,000 houses for the cash-strapped Nicaraguan government during a visit to the capital Managua on Saturday.
Tehran also said it would help to choose a site for a $120m hydroelectric project to help Nicaragua overcome a power crisis which is causing daily blackouts in the Central American nation.

In exchange Nicaragua will export coffee, meat and bananas to Iran.
Ortega has been building alliances with countries opposed to Washington - such as Venezuela and Iran - which have money to invest due to high oil prices and are eager to win friends in Latin America.

The former Marxist guerrilla who won power for a second time in January is eager for help to end the blackouts which have damaged his popularity.

The $350m deep-water port on the Caribbean coast is expected to receive funding from Caracas as well as Tehran.

'Friendly countries'

"We will work to combine Iranian investment with other friendly countries," Ortega said. "Venezuela would be ready and willing to take part in an effort like this."

Under the accords, Iran will fund a farm equipment assembly plant, 4,000 tractors, four hydroelectric plants, five milk-processing plants, a health clinic, 10,000 houses, and two piers in the western port of Corinto, Rosario Murillo, government spokeswoman, said.

The signing ceremony, led by Ortega and Hamid Chitchian, Iranian energy minister, came one week after the US ambassador to Nicaragua warned the Central American nation about its increasingly close ties with Iran.

"Iran can be a dangerous partner," Paul Trivelli said. 

The visit of the Iranian delegation came after a trip by Ortega to Tehran in June and a visit to Managua in January by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian president.

Last week, Ortega presented poor farmers out a number of tractors delivered to Nicaragua under the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas scheme of Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, which provides energy and aid on favourable terms mainly to leftist governments.

The company which made the tractors is 51 per cent owned by Iranian investors.
Source:
Agencies
Topics in this article
People
Country
City
Featured on Al Jazeera
More and more people in the US are living in poverty - yet Mitt Romney's policies would further shred the safety net.
As the anniversary of the uprising nears, the country's rulers are denying foreigners entry and hiring PR firms.
Under Obama, six whistleblowers have been charged under the World War I-era Espionage Act.
Journalist who recently spent time with fighters says there is no central leadership to the armed resistance.
<  > 
join our mailing list

Enter Zip Code
Go