**Cuba’s President Raul Castro and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez have signed economic co-operation deals worth $3.2bn (£1.96bn).**The pair agreed to 285 accords in areas including energy, sport and technology during the meeting in Havana.
The new deals will give Venezuela a greater involvement in oil exploration off the Cuban coast.
Cuba also agreed to buy more than $400m (£246m) worth of Venezuelan goods, including food, tyres and clothes.
‘Historic’
The signing comes a day before Cuba hosts a summit of the regional political and economic bloc, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of America (Alba), which was founded by the two nations five years ago.
Mr Castro said the agreements, signed on Saturday were “historic”.
The BBC’s Emilio San Pedro says the energy accord agreed will give Venezuelan state-owned oil company, PDVSA, a major role in the potentially lucrative search for oil off the Cuban coast.
The deals also highlight Venezuela’s role as Cuba’s closest political and commercial ally.
The OPEC member is already an important source of energy and trade to the Caribbean island, which repays part of its oil bill by providing the services of 40,000 professional workers.
Last year trade between the two countries was at around $5.26bn (£3.23bn) last year, the Reuters news agency reported.
Our correspondent says these latest accords should bring some much needed economic relief to Cuba, which has seen a dramatic drop in its international trade in recent months as a result of the global financial crisis.