“Acting President” of Venezuela Delcy Rodríguez on Thursday met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi as India moves to cement its oil and other commercial-related ties with the South American nation.
“It was an honor to meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House, where I thanked him for his warm welcome and conveyed the greetings of the Venezuelan people,” Rodríguez wrote on social media.
“During this cordial meeting, we discussed bilateral cooperation in the following areas: transportation, health, energy complementarity, agriculture, science, and technology; exploring new avenues for strategic partnerships that benefit both nations,” she continued in a follow-up post, and added, “We reaffirm our commitment to continue strengthening our relationship, in the interest of a future of shared prosperity for our nations and for the Global South.”
Rodríguez is currently halfway through a five-day official visit of India that will run through Sunday, June 7. According to VTV, the Venezuelan socialist regime’s main propaganda television channel, Rodríguez’s trip aims to deepen Venezuela’s commercial ties with India — a country that recently became the second top importer of Venezuelan oil, thanks to collaboration with the United States.
The “acting president” has been in charge of the Venezuelan socialist regime since January following the arrest of dictator Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces in a law enforcement operation in Caracas. Since then, Rodríguez has collaborated with the administration of President Donald Trump, seeking U.S. help and investment towards restoring the nation’s socialist-mismanagement infrastructure, such as oil, mining, and energy. As part of the collaboration, the United States is overseeing Venezuela’s oil sales. In return, Venezuela shares some of its oil with the U.S.
Speaking at the White House last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained that proceeds from Venezuela’s oil sales is going to an U.S. bank account controlled by the Department of the Treasury and audited by accounting giant KPMG. The arrangement, Rubio noted, has allowed Venezuelan oil revenue to not be stolen for the first time since 1999, the year late dictator Hugo Chávez took office. Rubio also noted that over ten million barrels of Venezuelan oil have arrived in the United States since January 3.
India is reportedly the world’s third largest consumer of oil, importing about 90 percent of all the oil it utilizes. Most of the oil imported by India comes from nearby Middle Eastern oil-producing nations — however, disruptions to the regular flow of oil trade caused by Iran’s treats at the Strait of Hormuz prompted India to seek out alternatives in other regions. As such, India has reportedly been buying oil directly from Venezuela at a rate of 427,000 barrels per day during May. The U.S.-assisted sales of Venezuelan oil to India appear to have allowed Venezuela to cut into the share of India’s oil imports once covered by Iran.
Reuters, citing data from the maritime intelligence firm Kpler, reported that Venezuela is on course to become the fourth-largest supplier of oil to India in May. Shri Rudrendra Tandon, Secretary (East) at the Indian Foreign Ministry told reporters after meeting with Venezuelan officials on Thursday that both countries are focused on energy projects. The official described Venezuela as a “preferred” energy partner of India.
“We are working with a government that is friendly, that wants a partnership with India,” Tandon said, according to Reuters. “We want to reciprocate that. Venezuela has traditionally been a close friend. We have collaborated very closely at the international level, so we are just going back to normal.”
In addition to meeting with President Modi, Rodríguez met with Indian Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. In an official statement, the Indian Oil Ministry reaffirmed India’s support of Venezuela’s energy recovery and the willingness of Indian companies to deepen their presence in the South American nation. Per the Ministry, Rodríguez welcomed Indian companies to participate in Venezuela’s oil and gas sectors and invited representatives to visit Venezuela to explore further venues for collaboration.
According to VTV, Rodríguez visited the Jamnagar refinery, where she met with the Executive Director of Indian refiner Reliance Industries, Panda Madhusudana Siva Prasad. The “acting President” traveled to Mumbai on Friday to continue her tour.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.