Türkiye, Venezuela vow to strengthen energy ties

ISTANBUL

Türkiye and Venezuela have pledged to strengthen their collaboration in oil, natural gas and mining, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Feb. 14.

Bayraktar met with Venezuela's Vice President and Petroleum Minister Delcy Rodriguez in Istanbul, where they discussed "ongoing collaboration within the scope of agreements on oil, natural gas, and mining," he said on X.

Türkiye and Venezuela agreed "to take concrete steps in these fields as soon as possible," he added.

"Our goal is to enhance the relations between our countries, which have deepened recently thanks to our leaders, with our cooperation in the fields of energy and mining," Bayraktar said.

Bayraktar and Rodriguez's meeting comes months after their previous encounter in Ankara last September.

In December last year, Venezuelan Tourism Minister Leticia Gomez visited the Turkish province of İzmir to attend a tourism expo and congress.

She invited Turkish companies to invest in Venezuela.

The agreements signed with the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry and the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB) would increase tourist visits from Türkiye, she said.