Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro (right) shaking hands with Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley (right) in Miraflores Palace, Caracas, July 8, 2023. Photo: Presidential Press.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, received the prime minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley, who is on her first official visit to Venezuela.
At the meeting, which took place on Saturday, July 8, bilateral agreements on energy, agriculture, air transport, and other cooperation treaties were signed at Miraflores Palace.
The Barbadian prime minister arrived in Venezuela on Saturday and was received by Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil. Later, Motltey met with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy RodrĂguez. She also visited the National Pantheon in Caracas where she paid a floral tribute to the Liberator SimĂłn BolĂvar.
After the agreement signing ceremony in Miraflores Palace, Mottley remarked on the importance of resuming air traffic between the two countries and expressed her hope that Venezuelan national airline Conviasa resumes its flights to Barbados. She also highlighted Barbados’ cooperation with Venezuela in agricultural matters, and what her country has learned from Venezuelan experience in urban agriculture, cheese production, and implementing fair prices.
Prime Minister Mottley highlighted the importance of energy cooperation between Venezuela and the Caribbean, and recognized the key role of PetroCaribe in reducing the negative impact of energy price fluctuations on the Caribbean economy.
She also criticized the illegal sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union against Venezuela and Cuba, and commented on the role that her government has had within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in opposing these unilateral coercive measures.
#EnVivo 📹 | Venezuela y Barbados suscriben acuerdos estratégicos.https://t.co/z7lBUWde54
— Prensa Presidencial (@PresidencialVen) July 8, 2023
President Maduro talked about mutual development and unity between the Caribbean and South America and ratified his commitment for the region as Zone of Peace within the framework of a multipolar world, a world without empires. He also thanked CARICOM for its latest statement calling for the end of the illegal sanctions against Venezuela.
Speaking to Barbados-Venezuela air travel, President Maduro promised that Conviasa will resume direct flights between Caracas and Bridgetown by this September.
Venezuela’s Vice President Meets With Prime Minister of Barbados
Mottley, a law graduate from the London School of Economics, is leading a diplomatic effort to promote the Bridgetown Initiative, which promotes reforms to the Bretton Woods institutions so that small island developing countries, such as the Caribbean states, have access to debt financing and renegotiation methods. President Maduro has endorsed Mottley’s campaign to reform the Bretton Woods system.
Mottley’s voice has become one of the most powerful in the Caribbean, raising issues related to climate justice, inequality in access to COVID vaccines, sovereign debts of developing nations, and the vulnerability of small economies. Her position in defense of multilateralism stands out in her demanding at international summits and meetings the implementation of moral leadership and respect for nations regardless of their size or resources.
The Barbados government delegation to Venezuela, headed by Prime Minister Motley, includes the minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerrie Symmonds; the ambassador of Barbados to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), David Comissiong; permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Joy Ann Skinner; and permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Alies Jordan.
(Ăšltimas Noticias) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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