MOSCOW, October 22 (Itar-Tass) - Russia is actively holding consultations with the oil exporting countries, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in the Kremlin on Monday. This is why the current meeting with the leader of the country, which is the OPEC chairperson now, is going to be interesting, he added. 
	
	
 "Relations with Venezuela are important for Russia, and twice as important considering the fact that at present Venezuela is the chairperson at OPEC," President Putin said. 
	
	
 He stressed he was especially satisfied with the fact that "the Russian-Venezuelan dialogue has become stable and dynamic." In his opinion, this is a positive factor, especially from the point of view of ensuring stable oil supply on the world market. He said in this connection that Russia supported the keeping of oil prices "within the just range." 
	
	
 In his turn, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela expressed gratitude to Putin "for the generosity of his soul." 
	
	
 "I never thought we would meet so soon," Chavez said. He reiterated his "friendship and Venezuela's enormous interest in maintaining relations with Russia." He thanked the Russian leader for meeting him immediately after his return from the Shanghai summit and the visit to Dushanbe. 
	
	
 Hugo Chavez is visiting Moscow within the framework of a long tour, which includes some European countries, Algeria, Iran, Libya and Saudi Arabia. It is taking place at the time, when ever more OPEC members begin to support the idea that oil production should be reduced again, in order to stop the continuing decline of the prices of hydrocarbons on the world market. 
	
	
 Late last week the price of crude oil went down at stock exchanges to 19.07 dollars per barrel, which is the lowest level since 1999. The purpose of the trip of Hugo Chavez is to find ways of effectively protecting the oil market and the world oil prices, as well as the interests of Venezuela as one of the world's biggest oil exporters. 
	
	
 This is the second visit of Hugo Chavez to Russia this year. The first one took place last May, when he held talks with Russian leaders.