Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday that he was willing to "forget" the unhappiness with Peruvian President-elect Alan Garcia and to improve relations with the country.

Speaking at a construction inauguration ceremony for a Venezuela-Colombia gas pipeline in the western state of Zulia, Chavez also said his country hopes to strengthen friendly ties between the peoples of Venezuela and Peru.

On Thursday, Garcia said in Ecuador's capital Quito that the new Peruvian government would make efforts to normalize relations with Venezuela.

"I think it is a good gesture by the president (elect) Garcia that I respond to in the same tone," Chavez said. "I am willing to make efforts to forget the things that happened during the electoral campaign in Peru."

Chavez and Garcia had been involved in a war of words since April. The Venezuelan president frequently criticized Garcia, Peru's then presidential candidate, and expressed his public support for Garcia's rival, nationalist candidate Ollanta Humala.

The spat came to a head when the two countries recalled their respective ambassadors in April and May.

Source: Xinhua