Raphael John-Lall

In a state­ment is­sued by its For­eign Min­istry yes­ter­day, the Venezue­lan Gov­ern­ment cel­e­brat­ed the vic­to­ry of the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) and con­grat­u­lat­ed Prime Min­is­ter-elect Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar.

Venezuela’s For­eign Af­fairs Min­is­ter Yván Gil, who post­ed the state­ment on his In­sta­gram page, re­called that dur­ing her pre­vi­ous term from 2010 to 2015, Per­sad-Bisses­sar and the Venezue­lan Gov­ern­ment had con­sol­i­dat­ed a strate­gic re­la­tion­ship based on mu­tu­al re­spect and co-op­er­a­tion in key ar­eas such as se­cu­ri­ty, the econ­o­my, and re­gion­al in­te­gra­tion.

“Our na­tions have built a sol­id al­liance, based on Caribbean broth­er­hood and a shared in­ter­est in the de­vel­op­ment of our peo­ples,” the Venezue­lan Gov­ern­ment stat­ed while em­pha­sis­ing its full will­ing­ness to strength­en these ties, es­pe­cial­ly in en­er­gy projects that ben­e­fit both na­tions.

The Venezue­lan gov­ern­ment al­so re­it­er­at­ed its com­mit­ment to con­tin­u­ing joint projects, es­pe­cial­ly in the area of ​​en­er­gy se­cu­ri­ty, and as­sured that it will main­tain a re­li­able gas sup­ply to T&T, which will con­tribute to the sus­tain­able eco­nom­ic growth of T&T and the Caribbean re­gion.

Not­ing that “Venezuela and T&T share his­tor­i­cal, ge­o­graph­i­cal, and cul­tur­al ties that unite both in the heart of the Caribbean,” the Bo­li­var­i­an Gov­ern­ment said both coun­tries must be aware of the chal­lenges fac­ing the re­gion.

The state­ment con­tin­ued: “We reaf­firm our will­ing­ness to ad­vance a com­mon co-op­er­a­tion agen­da that re­sponds to the as­pi­ra­tions of our peo­ples and pro­motes peace, de­vel­op­ment, and the sov­er­eign­ty of our na­tions.”

Venezuela al­so hopes bi­lat­er­al co-op­er­a­tion will deep­en, con­sol­i­dat­ing both na­tions as strate­gic part­ners in the re­gion.

This state­ment from the Nicolás Maduro ad­min­is­tra­tion comes against a back­drop of failed at­tempts to ce­ment en­er­gy agree­ments in re­cent years.

On April 8, the US Gov­ern­ment re­voked the li­cens­es grant­ed to T&T for the Drag­on and Man­akin-Cocuina cross-bor­der gas fields. For­mer prime min­is­ter, Dr Kei­th Row­ley had said that T&T’s eco­nom­ic for­tunes de­pend­ed on the suc­cess of that en­er­gy deal.