Tehran, Sep 6 (EFE) Visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Saturday agreed on a roadmap over the next 10 years to boost economic and military ties between the two countries.

Chavez is heading a business delegation to Iran as part of his two-day visit to the Islamic country.

'Iran and Venezuela share the important mission of helping oppressed and revolutionary nations,' Ahmadinejad told a joint press conference with Chavez. 'The time when arrogant powers could influence revolutionary nations is over,' he said.

Chavez described Iran as a strategic ally and defended its right to develop a peaceful nuclear energy programme.

'We are convinced that Iran, as it has shown, will not stop seeking to obtain what is a right of its people - to have the equipment and structures to use atomic energy for civilian purposes,' Chavez said.

'There's no proof whatsoever that Iran is building a (nuclear) bomb,' he said.