New Delhi, June 4 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called Venezuela a “valued partner” in Latin America, asserting that India-Venezuela cooperation holds “immense importance” for the Global South community.

“Happy to meet with the Acting President of Venezuela, Ms. Delcy Rodriguez. We had extensive discussions on expanding our cooperation in energy, critical minerals, technology, agriculture, health and people-to-people ties,” PM Modi wrote on X after the meeting.

“As a valued partner in Latin America, our close cooperation with Venezuela holds immense importance for the Global South. We will continue to work together for the mutual benefit of the people of our nations, he added.

Earlier in the day, PM Modi and Rodriguez held a meeting at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi. EAM Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and other officials were also present during the meeting.

Addressing a special briefing on Rodriguez’s visit, MEA’s Secretary (East), Rudrendra Tandon, stated that the discussions between two leaders were “very substantive and businesslike.”

He said that Venezuela sees India as a stable demander for energy for many years.

“President Delcy Rodriguez of Venezuela is paying a working visit to India from June 3 to 6. She is accompanied by a very large ministerial delegation that includes ministers of foreign affairs, communication and information, economy and finance, science and technology, and the Minister of transportation. Today morning, she met Prime Minister Modi for official talks which went over a working lunch as well. Earlier, External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr S Jaishankar also called on her and later in the day, the Minister of Petroleum will be calling on her,” said Tandon.

“Venezuela possesses one of the largest oil reserves in the world. The Indian economy is a large and growing consumer of oil and will have a stable demand growth for many years to come. Thus in the energy sector we see a perfect complementarity. In fact, in our spot purchases, Venezuela has already emerged as the third largest supplier this month, so quite naturally, today’s discussions focussed on forging an energy partnership. While not going into details of the conversation, what did emerge from the interaction of the two leaders was that Venezuelan energy sector is undergoing a fundamental transformation. They see India as a stable demander for many years to come, and therefore there exists a perfect complementarity for India and Venezuela to work together in the energy sector, both upstream as well as downstream,” he added.

Tandon stated that, during the meeting, the Venezuelan side acknowledged that India has stood with them during the good and the bad times. He mentioned that Venezuela sees India as a preferred partner in the future.

“The discussions also went into broadening the economic partnership to other areas. Venezuela is a very large country which is resource rich, has talented, hardworking people that is now showing the first signs of moving on to a path of sustained growth. So, there are huge opportunities, not just in the energy sector, but also in areas like mining, in areas like animal husbandry, transportation, agricultural equipment, automotive sector, and pharmaceuticals. These too were discussed, and the whole idea was to try and work out ways in which Indian commercial entities can enter the Venezuelan market successfully and a new partnership in these sectors can be forged.”

“Overall, I would say that the conversation was very businesslike, very substantive. There was genuine warmth between the two delegations and an acknowledgement by the Venezuelan side that India has stood with Venezuela in bad times as well as in good times. It is a long relationship and we are a preferred partner for them going into the future,” he added.

–IANS

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