Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Monday arrived for the first time in Hanoi, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, to pay a two-day official visit.

He arrived in Noi Bai International Airport, where he was welcomed by Vietnamese Secretary of the Presidency Nguyen Van Trien, Foreign Affairs vice-minister Le Van Bang, and Venezuelan ambassador to Vietnam Jorge Rondón Uzcátegui, the Venezuelan official news agency ABN reported.

Chávez is visiting the headquarters of the Vietnamese Government, where he is meeting in private with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Minh Triet. Concomitantly, bilateral delegations are holding a separate meeting.

Subsequently, Chávez and Minh Triet are scheduled to initial a number of cooperation agreements and then they are to offer a joint news conference.

Later on Monday, Chávez is meeting with representatives of the Vietnamese Association of Friendship, and then with the National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong; the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Nong Duc Manh, and with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.