Ambassador of Venezuela to Nigeria David Valasquez Caraballo says his country is engaging in discussions on strengthening bilateral ties with Nigeria on security and other key sectors.
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Caraballo made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of the commemoration of the 209th Independence of Venezuela in Abuja.
He said that building on the existing bilateral relationship, strengthening ties on security, the oil and gas sector, tourism, agricultural sector would be of immense benefit to both countries.
The Ambassador said that prior to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Vice President of Venezuela was to visit Nigeria to discuss these issues.
He said that the Embassy has however proposed a virtual meeting to this effect which could hold in a couple of months.
“We are talking about the security, about the different security measures like social protection, agriculture and economic areas.
“Where we can increase and share our experiences and promote a bilateral trade and bilateral investment.
“I have spent about a year and half and in this time, we have achieved great feat.
“We are working on this high level visit like the of the past democracy day, with the visit of the vice president and we present proposal for bilateral agreements.
“We are working and with the COVID-19 pandemic and looking for other ways to continue working.” Caraballo said.
Caraballo said in his over one year term as Ambassador, Venezuela has been able to advance lots of programmes in Nigeria like scholarships, however, the need for increased activities was necessary.
“We have scholarship programmes in the Hugo Chavez Primary school, the technical support for the Nigerian rice farmers, the Hugo Chavez Primary schools are concrete actions for bilateral relations.
“But we need to increase the numbers of these activities and increase the mechanics for these activities between both countries.”
Caraballo also said Venezuela and Nigeria had shares great bilateral relations in one of the most important areas of the oil and gas sector, and as members of the Organisation of Petroleaum Exporting Countries (OPEC),
“We have talked about the joint commission meeting and the interest to open the bilateral agreements of our bilateral cooperation like trade, tourism, education, mining, gold mining sector, the oil transportation,” he added.