India and Venezuela Thursday discussed “forging an energy partnership” and entering into “long-term contracts” as Delcy Rodriguez, on her first trip to India after becoming Acting President of her country, held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
Rodriguez took charge of Venezuela after President Nicolas Maduro was abducted by US forces in a military operation in January this year.
After meeting Rodriguez, Modi, in a post on X, said, “We had extensive discussions on expanding our cooperation in energy, critical minerals, technology, agriculture, health and people-to-people ties.”
“As a valued partner in Latin America, our close cooperation with Venezuela holds immense importance for the Global South. We will continue to work together for the mutual benefit of the people of our nations,” he said.
Asked whether the leaders discussed the issue of Maduro, Rudrendra Tandon, Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs, said, “Coming to the political transition, of course, this was a very frank conversation that the two leaders had, both during when all of us were there, as well as on the table when they were having their working lunch, but I don’t think that I should, you know, get into those sort of things.”
“We all know that there was a transition in Venezuela. But we are working with a government that is friendly, that wants a partnership with India. We want to reciprocate that, and don’t forget that Venezuela has been traditionally a very close friend. Bilaterally, we have done a lot of partnerships, and at the international level, we have collaborated very closely… We are just going back to normal,” he said.
Tandon said Venezuela views India as a “preferred partner” and “India has stood with Venezuela in bad times as well as in good times”.
On the energy relationship between India and Venezuela, he said, “Venezuela possesses one of the largest oil reserves in the world. The Indian economy is a large and growing consumer of oil and will have a stable demand growth for many years to come. Thus, in the energy sector, we see a perfect complementarity. In fact, in our spot purchases, Venezuela has already emerged as the third largest supplier this month, so quite naturally today’s discussions focused on forging an energy partnership.”
“It is in their interest to enter into long-term contracts rather than to do spot buying. So we hope that at some stage we move forward to long-term secure supplies from all our suppliers,” he said.
With Venezuela’s energy sector undergoing a massive restructuring where major reforms are being implemented to open both the oil and electricity markets to private capital, Tandon said, “We are not going into details of the conversation. What did emerge from the interaction of the two leaders was that the Venezuelan energy sector is undergoing a fundamental transformation… There exists a perfect complementarity for India and Venezuela to work in the energy sector both upstream as well as downstream.”
“The discussion on the energy sector was extensive. The talk of partnership was not just buyer-seller, it was participation of Indian companies upstream and downstream in all its aspects. Of course, the details of this cannot be worked out at the Prime Minister level. This will have to be taken up by the companies themselves, but the message that came across very clearly from the Venezuelan side is that they are open for business, they are reforming their industry, so there are great opportunities for India. And our response to that was that we are willing, our companies are willing, and we will take steps to facilitate that as a government.”
ExplainedRegime change & bilateral ties
On January 30, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodriguez and the two leaders agreed to take the bilateral relations to new heights in the years ahead. The phone call from Rodriguez to Modi was the first since the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife by the United States in the first week of January. Energy was one of the topics covered in the leaders’ conversation.
“But ultimately, it is a commercial decision that Indian companies in the energy sector will have to take on the discounts. Payments will be done in the way the companies want. The Government of India, because of the developments in the Middle East, is aggressively seeking out new sources of crude oil and energy to ensure India’s energy security. So, Venezuela is an opportunity, and it is very much part of our plan”, he said.
Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, who called on Rodriguez along with ministry officials and CMDs of energy PSUs, said, “India has a long standing energy partnership with Venezuela since 2008 and shares unique complementarities with the country.”
“Venezuela possesses the biggest proven reserves of oil in the world, while India not only possesses huge demand for energy but also has the technological expertise and manpower to refine Venezuelan crude in our refineries,” he said in a post on X.
Venezuela, Puri said, was among the largest crude oil suppliers to India in April and May this year, “a reflection of the future potential”. He said an Indian technical team will visit Venezuela soon to “further explore this potential”.
According to Tandon, the two sides also discussed cooperation in areas including critical minerals, gold and diamond mining, animal husbandry, transportation, agriculture equipment, automotive sector, and pharmaceuticals.
“Pharmaceuticals was discussed in quite a lot of detail, particularly the ability of Indian manufacturers to provide high quality generic drugs at low cost to their public health services, which is a very important part. In fact, this was listed by the Venezuelan delegation as one of the priority areas, so much so that the Prime Minister actually directed that one of her ministers, who is accompanying her, should be exposed to our entire Jan Ausadhi scheme.”
Accompanying Rodriguez is a ministerial delegation that includes ministers of foreign affairs, communication and information, economy and finance, science and technology, and the transportation.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who also called on Rodriguez, later said, “Deeply value her longstanding commitment to the India-Venezuela relationship.”
Rodriguez, who has been to India at least six times in the past, is expected to travel to Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Mumbai.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodriguez in New Delhi on Thursday. (Photo: Anil Sharma) 
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