PORLAMAR, Venezuela – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi will sign eight cooperation agreements at a bilateral meeting to be held next Monday in Caracas, Venezuelan officials said Saturday.

The Venezuelan ambassador to Libya, Afif Tajeldine, gave the Venezuelan state media that news during the 2nd Africa-South America (ASA) Summit that was to begin at the presidential level Saturday at noon on Margarita Island.

“Up to now, Venezuela has signed five accords with Libya,” Tajeldine said in a statement to the state Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias (ABN) news agency.

Gadhafi arrived Friday at Venezuela’s principal tourist island and held a private meeting with Venezuelan president and summit host Hugo Chavez in the Libyan leader’s tent set up near the swimming pool of the hotel where he is staying and where the meeting was to be held.

Both leaders talked, among other matters, about “strategies” for establishing cooperation between South America and Africa, as well as preparations for the next ASA summit, to be held in Libya.

In that regard, Ambassador Tajeldine said that the “integration” of South America and Africa is indispensable for meeting and overcoming the social and economic problems that oppress both regions.

“Libya for us is the gateway to Africa because it is a country with an acknowledged socialist agenda. It plays an important strategic role for us,” Tajeldine told ABN.