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Venezuela seeks cooperation with ECLAC for an "economic resurgence"

Xinhua, March 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday asked for the United Nations' Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to support his government in the consolidation of a productive economy and help it overcome difficulties.

In a meeting with ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Barcena at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Maduro said that although the country is affected by low oil prices, Venezuela has all the economic conditions to succeed.

Maduro said the government will work with ECLAC to organize plans for poverty eradication and economic productivity in the coming months.

"I've asked ECLAC and its executive secretary Alicia Barcena to support us with everything that ECLAC has to offer ... ," he said.

Venezuela started off this year with the highest inflation in the region at over 68 percent and shortages of basic goods and products, which along with low oil prices has created difficulties for its people.

Barcena highlighted the social achievements of Venezuela in the past 15 years, including the reduction of extreme poverty and the application of social programs in housing, food, health and education, which began with Hugo Chavez and continued with Maduro.

However, she said the Venezuelan economy must diversify its incomes and end its dependence on oil revenues, though it's a privileged country with the world's largest oil reserves.

"(We want) to see how they can articulate a new vision of a productive economy in a country like Venezuela that has so much richness in its people, youth and their territory," she said.

The high representative of the UN agency paid a two-day visit to Venezuela, where she met with government officials to discuss economic and social issues.

Headquartered in Santiago, Chile, ECLAC is one of the five regional commissions of the UN and was founded with the purpose of contributing to the economic development of Latin America, coordinating actions directed towards this end, and reinforcing economic ties among countries and with other nations of the world. Endi