India, Venezuela agree to take bilateral ties to new heights

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez on January 30.

• The two leaders agreed to further expand and deepen the India-Venezuela partnership in all areas, including trade and investment, energy, digital technology, health, agriculture and people-to-people ties.

• The phone call between PM Modi and Rodriguez was the first since the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife by the United States.

• Rodriguez took over as the interim President of Venezuela on January 5, two days after US forces seized her predecessor, Maduro, to face trial in New York.

India‐Venezuela Bilateral Relations

• India and Venezuela have always enjoyed cordial relations. 

• The two countries marked the 66th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations in 2025.

• Resident embassies have been in Caracas and New Delhi for over four decades. 

• There are around 50 NRIs (non-resident Indians) and 30 PIOs (persons of Indian origin) in Venezuela, according to the embassy in Caracas.

• The two countries have robust cooperation in the energy sector.

• Bilateral trade between India and Venezuela reached approximately $117.5 crore in the 2023-24 financial year. 

• The main items of India’s exports to Venezuela are mineral fuels and oils and products of their distillation, bituminous substances, pharmaceutical products, cotton, nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances, electrical machinery and equipment, sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, articles of apparel and clothing accessories and miscellaneous chemical products. 

• The main items of India’s imports from Venezuela are mineral fuels and oils and products of their distillation, bituminous substances, mineral waxes, iron and steel, aluminium, edible vegetables and certain roots and tubers, copper and articles thereof, lead and articles thereof, zinc and articles thereof, wood and articles of wood, electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof, sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, raw hides, skins and leather, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances, edible fruit and nuts, plastic and articles thereof, organic chemicals, miscellaneous chemical products, articles of iron or steel.

• India’s ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) has a joint venture with Corporacion Venezolana del Petroleo (CVP). The joint venture company is named ‘Petrolera Indovenezolana SA’ for the production and exploration of oil in the San Cristobal field, in which the OVL has a 40 per cent stake.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)