President Obiang (l) promised to help Zimbabwe

He said the two countries had agreed to boost economic ties and that Zimbabwe would be "delighted" to get fuel from Africa's third largest producer.

Mr Obiang visited Zimbabwe two years after the authorities there helped foil a plot to oust him.

Zimbabwe has chronic shortages of fuel, due to a foreign exchange crisis.

"There were no negotiations as such on the issue of oil, but our ministers will go into that. We will be delighted if an opportunity existed to import fuel," Mr Mugabe said.

Zimbabwe's leader also said Africans must be wary of foreigners "who will dig up all our resources and take them abroad".

Simon Mann, the British leader of the alleged coup plot against Mr Obiang, is still serving a jail sentence in Harare after the plane on which he was travelling landed there in 2004, on its way to Equatorial Guinea.

More than 60 men arrested with him - most of them South African citizens of Angolan origin - were released last year after serving a year's sentence.

Others remain in prison in Equatorial Guinea.

Zimbabweans have endured shortages of fuel and basic foodstuffs in recent years, as a result of a foreign currency shortage.