Presidents from Venezuela and Brazil Monday laid the foundation stone for a new petrochemical complex in eastern Venezuela, part of a series of joint ventures launched to tap deeper into the region's fossil fuel resources.

The new 3.4-billion-dollar complex, to be built in Venezuela's northeastern Anzoategui state, will "increase the capacity to transform gas into liquid, liquid into solids and solids into thousands of products," said Venezuelan President Chavez, who made the remarks at the site with presidents Luiz Inacio da Silva of Brazil, Evo Morales of Bolivia, and Nicanor Duarte of Paraguay.

The project is a "brother to brother, 50 percent to 50 percent" joint venture between Venezuela's state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and Brazilian petrochemical giant Braskem, said Chavez.

It was launched shortly after last month's U.S.-Brazil ethanol agreement, which Chavez, sharing his concerns with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, called a "cartel" that would monopolize arable lands and starve the poor.

Chavez defended what he said is a new Venezuelan strategy to integrate South America and end an historic economic dependency on the United States. He also called on South American entrepreneurs to invest in his country.

"We are South Americans before anything else," he said.

After the inauguration, Chavez will leave for Venezuela's Margarita Island to attend the First South American Energy Summit with other top leaders from nations in the region.

Chavez was expected to seek support in the two-day summit for projects including a South American natural gas pipeline and a proposed alliance modeled after the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC) to promote a fair price for natural gas.