Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says his Iranian counterpart will visit Caracas before the end of the year to help inaugurate a joint housing project.

"I want him (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) to accompany me to inaugurate some houses," Chavez told Iran's Ambassador to Venezuela, Ahmad Sobhani, in a Sunday TV-radio show.

The houses to be inaugurated are 240 homes built as part of a housing development program between the two countries.

During the Venezuelan president's last visit to Iran, which was in September, the two governments signed over 200 cooperation agreements in various fields such as health, oil, trade, housing, food and finance.

Iranian engineers have already constructed a dairy production plant and a flour factory in Venezuela.

According to comments by the Venezuelan mining minister and Chavez himself, Iranian experts are also helping the Latin American state locate uranium reserves.

The project involves conducting geophysical tests and aerial surveys to find uranium deposits in the mineral-rich states of Bolivar and Tachira.

MJ/SC