MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Turkish FM signs bilateral agreements on his Caracas visit

In Venezuela, Turkey and the Turkish people feel at home, said Çavuşoğlu, whose Montevideo stop was not that friendly

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu Friday signed in Caracas a series of agreements between his country and Venezuela in areas such as financial economy, agriculture and fishing, tourism, sports, health and medicine, and education, it was announced.

The new deals are the result of the “hard” work carried out at nine working tables by the high-level delegations of both countries within the framework of the III Turkey-Venezuela Joint Commission for Cooperation, at the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry headquarters.

“We reiterate our commitment to continue working together in a dynamic and harmonious manner in this strategic cooperation alliance,” said Tarek El Aissami, sectoral vice-president for the economic area and Minister of Petroleum.

Çavuşoğlu's visit reaffirmed “before the international community that we are on the right path of the defense of multilateralism and peace diplomacy, which urges us to work together to build a better, fairer, and more equitable world, without hegemony or empires,” added El Aissami, who also highlighted the two countries' commitment to “continue building together a high-level, fruitful and prosperous cooperation agenda for the benefit of our peoples.”

El Aissami also said that in matters of economy and finance, the III Commission made progress in the negotiation of several agreements to accelerate bilateral trade and foreign investments towards the digitalization of financial transactions.

The Venezuelan official also pointed out that a memorandum of understanding was to be signed in matters such as agriculture, fisheries, youth, and sports, in addition to a tourism program for the 2022-2024 seasons.

Regarding university education, there are already 60 Venezuelan students and 64 more “will travel in the third quarter of this year.”

“Today we reaffirm that both Turkey and Venezuela have emerged victorious from all these challenges and adversities that we have had to face,” El Aissami underlined.

Çavuşoğlu also stressed that the decisions that “we have taken in the last two meetings have contributed to our relations despite the pandemic and the sanctions.”

“We have tripled our turnover, which has been US$ 300 million 2020-2021, and has already exceeded US$ 850 million, and we know that we have a lot of capacity and we have to reach US$ 1.5 billion in the future, that is our goal,” he went on.

“Turkey and the Turkish people are a friend of Venezuela; here we feel at home and in difficult times we stood by Venezuela's side and we will continue to stand by Venezuela”, he expressed.

Turkey is one of Venezuela's best export partners despite sanctions, blockades, and the pandemic, the two officials agreed.

The Turkish diplomat arrived in Caracas on Thursday as part of his Latin American tour that took him to Uruguay, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, and Panama.

Read also: Turkish FM racist and ultra-right-wing gestures in Montevideo sparks controversies