Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has ended his tour of Latin America with a stop in Venezuela, where he secured a pledge from his Venezuelan counterpart to upgrade ties between Caracas and the Palestinians.

Abbas met Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, on Friday, on the last stop of a regional tour aimed at building support for a Palestinian state.

The Palestinian leader's tour also included stops in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Paraguay.

In a ceremony at the presidential palace in Caracas, Chavez presented Abbas with an olive branch and a gold-plated replica of a sword that once belonged to the 19th-century Latin America liberation leader, Simon Bolivar.

"We ... are on the side of the Palestinian people's memorable struggle ... against the genocidal state of Israelthat knocks down, kills and aims to terminate the Palestinian people," Chavez said.

"We [Venezuelans] should devote the entire force of our hearts and souls towards the creation of a Palestinian state.

"Venezuela is Palestine; Palestine is Venezuela, we have a common struggle."

Palestinian ally

Venezuela is seen as one of the strongest supporters of the Palestinian cause, but its leader has also been accused of anti-Semitism, particularly after he expelled all Israeli diplomats from the country earlier this year.

Caracas also cut diplomatic relations with Israel in January in protest against Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Several months later, Palestinian officials opened a diplomatic mission in Venezuela, and on Friday Chavez announced the decision to appoint a Venezuelan ambassador to the West Bank.

"We have decided to designate an ambassador and open an embassy in Palestine," Chavez said after talks with Abbas, the Reuters news agency reported.

"We now have a charge d'affaires; we will name an ambassador in coming days as part of accords to boost our bilateral relations," he said.

The two sides also signed a series of co-operation agreements, with Venezuelan officials stressing that they were signing them withthe State of Palestine, which Caracas has already recognised as a sovereign nation.

The agreements included initiatives to increase trade and create student exchange programmes.