MEXICO, October 10 (RIA Novosti) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Friday that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will pay an official visit to his country in late November.

"Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will visit Venezuela right after regional and municipal elections slated for November 23 and it will be a great honor to receive him," Chavez said.

Chavez, who visited Russia in late September and met with Medvedev, said the visit will focus on important bilateral issues, which include the plans for formation of a Venezuelan-Russian bank and an international oil bank.

Russian energy companies signed cooperation agreements with Venezuela's state oil and natural gas company PDVSA as part of Chavez's previous visit to Russia in July.

Chavez said that Iran had already voiced its support for the formation of an international oil bank, which according to him could be joined by Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

OPEC member Venezuela is one of the world's biggest oil producers, with about 87 billion barrels of proven conventional oil reserves. In recent years it has been increasing cooperation with Russian energy firms, particularly state gas monopoly Gazprom.

Venezuela is also a major purchaser of Russian weapons and hardware, with contracts worth at least $4 billion.