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Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and his Ecuadorian counterpart Rafael Correa launched on Tuesday a plan to build the largest petrochemical plant in the South American Pacific during a ceremony that turned into mini-summit due to the attendance at the very last minute of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

Concomitantly, the left-wing presidents will meet to discuss Latin American integration and the sensitive issue of Colombia, with which the three of them once broke or froze relations following a raid by the Colombian army on a camp of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) last March 1st in Ecuadorian territory.

The project prompted by the Ecuadorian and Venezuelan presidents amounts to at least USD 6.6 billion, with a capacity to process 300,000 bpd of oil. The works are expected to be completed by 2012, according to both governments.

Chávez and Ortega plan to return to their respective countries on this very Tuesday.