Venezuela, Saudi Arabia bolster cooperation amid falling oil prices

The governments of Venezuela and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday expressed their commitment to strengthening boosting bilateral ties and revving up economic cooperation amid a major slump in global oil prices.

At the inauguration ceremony of the First Joint Cooperation Commission in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said it was a "historic moment" to relaunch ties under the leadership of President Nicolas Maduro and the meeting would become an "ideal scenario" for the two nations to increase bilateral trade.

While echoing the Venezuelan Foreign Minister's call for growing two-way trade, Saudi Arabia's Minister of commerce and industries Tawfiq bin Fouzan Al Rabiah said his visit to Caracas aimed to overcome obstacles in the way of that objective.

"We also wish to create an effective environment for investment and contribute to the development of the two nations through economic, professional and technological cooperation," he said.

It is expected 10 cooperation agreements would be signed at the meeting following the inauguration of the new commission, involving strategic areas such as energy, agriculture, finance, education and culture, among others.

Al Rabiah believed the 10 cooperation agreements to be signed at the meeting would mutually benefit Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, both of which rely on fossil fuel as the main source of revenue.

Current bilateral trade volume between the two countries only stands at 8.2 million U.S. dollars, which has left a lot of room to grow to its full potential, added the Saudi minister.

Maduro has visited Riyadh twice this year in a strategy to "defend" global oil prices and encourage OPEC countries to cut oil production, an idea Saudi Arabia has long been reluctant to consider. Endit