In Kuwait on Tuesday, the fourth stop of his tour of the Middle East and North Africa, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, formed a joint oil and gas commission aimed at strengthening the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) and stabilising global oil prices.
Maduro hailed his “extraordinary” trip, during which he said officials agreed to increase oil and gas cooperation to bolster OPEC and OPEC+ . To this end, he called on Kuwait Investment Fund and local businesspeople to invest in Venezuela to boost bilateral trade. He also invited them to invest in tourism, energy, and commercial projects in the country.
Visita extraordinaria al Estado de Kuwait, donde en conjunto activamos una Comisión Mixta con planes específicos de cooperación, en lo político, diplomático, petróleo, gas, el fortalecimiento de la OPEP y OPEP+, inversiones, turismo, comercio y agricultura. ¡Agenda provechosa! pic.twitter.com/sEkiBEHkl7
— Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) June 14, 2022
He also outlined a proposal for agricultural production, similar to his talks with Iran, wherein Kuwait would take advantage of Venezuela’s arable and highly fertile land.
Keeping this in mind, Maduro vowed to broaden bilateral ties “at all levels” during his meeting with Kuwaiti Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah at the Bayán Palace, celebrating their “bond of brotherhood,” which he said will yield “good results” for both countries.
Maduro also held a crucial meetings with Kuwait Petroleum Corporation President and incoming OPEC Secretary-General Haitham al-Ghais, who will take up the role in August for three year period, and Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmed Nasser al-Mohammed al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah, following which Maduro said the two countries, “united in brotherhood and spirit,” must work together to build a “new multicentric world.”
Venezuelan President Maduro arrived in #Kuwait on the third stop of his international tour. The purpose of this visit is to strengthen cooperation relations with strategic allies and agreements were reached on various interests such as finance, tourism, air connectivity and oil. pic.twitter.com/26RzT29vic
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) June 14, 2022
A release by the Venezuelan government noted that both countries are founding members of OPEC, describing them as “energy powers for the development of humanity.” Venezuela has the world’s largest crude oil reserves, while Kuwait has is in fifth place. Another press release noted that Venezuela currently “only” produces around 400,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) due to the US’ “unilateral coercive measures,” well below its peak of over 3.1 million bpd back in 1998.
Maduro also met with Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, though details on the meeting were not made public, as well as National Assembly President Marzouq al-Ghanim and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Mohammad Abdullah al-Mubarak al-Sabah.
He was accompanied by First Lady Cilia Adela Flores as well as various officials from the foreign affairs, agriculture, communications, tourism, and transportation ministries.
En el marco de la gira euroasiática con amplia agenda de cooperación que se centra en las áreas de ciencia y tecnología, agricultura, transporte, energía, turismo y cultura, el Jefe de Estado @NicolasMaduro sostuvo un encuentro con el presidente de la Asamblea Nacional de Kuwait pic.twitter.com/h67Cq1QqRV
— Prensa Presidencial (@PresidencialVen) June 14, 2022
Maduro’s visit to Kuwait follows his trips to Iran, Algeria, and Turkey. In fact, following his stop in Kuwait, Maduro flew to Qatar, continuing his regional outreach in the wake of his exclusion from last week’s US-hosted Americas Summit.
The president of the Venezuelan parliament’s Economy and Finance Commission, Jesús Faría, declared following Maduro’s Kuwait visit: “This tour not only opens new perspectives for the development of our country in this new phase of the nation's economic recovery, but it is also a very hard blow to the US government’s policy of applying the blockade as a kind of blackmail to bend the Bolivarian government.”
Referring to expanding energy cooperation with the five countries the Venezuelan leader has visited on this tour, Faría said, “The fundamental lines of these agreements are the oil and gas sectors, where we have the fundamental basis for the development of our economy and these are sectors that have been hard hit by the brutal blockade applied by the US government against our country for more than five years.”