Boosting bilateral trade between Russia and Latin America, which could reach $15bn (£9. . Cuba is unlikely to want to antagonise the US with president-elect barack Obama taking office in january, says the BBC"'s michael voss in Havana. 4bn (£2. Mr medvedev"'s visit takes place just a few days after the chinese president, hu jintao, toured several latin American nations with a view to strengthening ties. Military co-operation also featured in Mr Medvedev"'s talks with mr chavez. After meeting his Cuban counterpart, Mr Medvedev told reporters: ""We have a systematic dialogue. 39bn). "" russian and Venezuelan warships are scheduled to hold joint military exercises later this week. Russia is already a major arms supplier to Venezuela, with contracts worth some $4. The Russian leader arrived in Havana from venezuela, where he and President hugo Chavez signed a deal on promoting nuclear energy for civilian use. Russian president dmitry Medvedev is in cuba for the final stop in a tour of latin america intended to strengthen Russian influence in the region. In Rio de janeiro, the two presidents expressed their view that the ""Bric"" countries - Brazil, russia, india and China - should hold their first summit in russia in 2009. The russian leader travelled to Venezuela from brazil, where he and president luiz inacio lula da silva held talks on boosting trade and technical co-operation. 9bn) this year, is another priority for the Russian president during his talks. Our relations have been generally good, but in the past six months they have become especially intense. Mr Medvedev"'s visit was part of a latin American tour aimed at boosting both Russia"'s presence and trade ties in a region traditionally of strategic importance to the US. Mr medvedev and Cuban president Raul Castro are expected to sign deals on nickel mining and oil exploration. New alignments russian companies are interested in drilling for oil in Cuban waters and oil and investing in a nickel processing plant.