Venezuelan foreign minister urges US to lift 'unilateral measures'

ANTALYA, Turkiye

As senior US officials visited Venezuela last weekend to discuss oil production, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister said such visits are "nothing new" while also urging the US to lift "unilateral measures" against his country.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Felix Plasencia said: "Having their visit to Venezuela to talk about this is important, but it's nothing absolutely out of the blue or new because we've been doing business with Americans for a long while."

Underlining that Venezuela has the largest oil and gas reserves on earth, he said his country's oil business with the US has been "historical," and "does happen for a long while."

"And we've never asked American companies to leave the country," he said. "President Nicolas Maduro said many times that we welcome American oil companies to invest and develop oil business in Venezuela."

Plasencia said that he hopes the US to respect the sovereignty and the legitimacy of the Venezuelan government.

"President Nicolas Maduro is the only legitimate government president of Venezuela, and having them respecting that there are lots we can do together regarding oil business," he stressed.

"We've never asked them to leave. They decided to because suddenly they engage in the position of unilateral measures against Venezuela," he said. "I hope those measures are lifted and taken away. And then we can have a respectful relationship."

Venezuela's oil production and OPEC

Adding that Venezuela is a founding member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and part of the agreement within its allies, known as OPEC+, Plasencia said the production of Venezuela is being affected by the "unilateral US measures" in the last years.

"Hopefully, we can go back to the levels that we deserve. And the levels are part of the agreements within OPEC plus," he said.

"President Nicolas Maduro said openly to the press that we hope by the end of this year to produce 2 million barrels per day. We are producing 1 million barrels per day nowadays," he added.

Asked about the Russia-Ukraine war, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister said his country is "always for peace".

"Venezuela is a member of the group of countries that protected the United Nations chapter," he said. "We will always promote that very document that is the most consensus document in the international community."

The three-day high-level forum in the resort city of Antalya has brought together participants from 75 countries, including 17 heads of state, 80 government ministers, and 39 representatives of international organizations. Anadolu Agency is the event's global communications partner.

*Writing by İclal Turan