Chavez arrived in Tehran on Saturday for a two-day stay and was meeting his "ideological brother" Ahmadinejad in Tehran, following visits to Russia and Belarus.

Aside from their anti-US stance, the two countries enjoy warm ties and cooperation in the energy sector, with Iran Opec's second largest crude producer and Venezuela also a major player in the cartel.

Chavez, who is accompanied by his foreign, communication, energy, industry and economy ministers, is expected to sign a number of agreements including the construction of 7,000 houses, a petrochemical plant and a vocational training centre in Venezuela.

The two leaders will inaugurate construction of a joint petrochemical plant on Monday in the southern city of Asaluyeh, which will produce a million tons of methanol every year, the official IRNA news agency said.

A similar plant would be built in Venezuela to give Iran better access to Latin American and Brazilian markets and provide easier reach to India and Pakistan for Venezuela, IRNA said.

Ahmadinejad toured Latin America in January in a bid to seek support from the region's leftist leaders who share his scornful defiance of the United States.