2023-09-06 00:52:10
A delegation from the Maduro regime traveled to China in search of investment to reactivate the oil sector (Bloomberg)
A delegation from the Nicolás Maduro regime arrived in China on Tuesday with the intention of attracting new energy investments that will help boost the Venezuelan economy, ahead of the presidential elections to be held in 2024.
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Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, together with the Minister of Petroleum, Pedro Tellechea, landed in Shanghai “on behalf of President Nicolás Maduro, to strengthen bilateral relations of brotherhood and cooperation with this nation,” the Vice Presidency said in a message on social networks.
The officials, who head the highest-level Venezuelan delegation that has visited the Asian giant in five years, were received by the director of Latin America of the local Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cai Wei, and by the Caracas ambassador to the country, Giuseppe Yoffreda.
Maduro tries to recover the economy of Venezuela to strengthen his candidacy for a third term (EFE)
During their stay, the envoys will discuss boosting the Venezuelan oil sector through possible joint ventures between China and PDVSA, something that, however, has been going on for years.
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Venezuela concentrates in its territory the largest crude reserves in the world and, therefore, oil represents about 95% of its income abroad. However, in recent years, mismanagement and corruption have significantly diminished this flow of money, which Maduro is now trying to recover to strengthen his candidacy for a third term.
In recent years, the Caracas Oil Ministry began talks with China National Petroleum Corporation officials to reach a renewed conduit that eliminates intermediaries and allows direct shipment of crude oil to the Asian giant.
The delegation will address the promotion of the Venezuelan oil sector through possible joint ventures between CNPC and PDVSA (REUTERS)
According to data compiled by Bloomberg, CNPC currently produces about 80,000 barrels a day, which is half of what it used to pump in 2015.
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In any case, the alliance between the regimes dates back much earlier. China became a key lender to Venezuela as early as 2007, when it first financed a series of infrastructure and oil projects under Hugo Chavez. So, public records indicate that Beijing sent more than $60 billion in oil-backed loans through state-owned banks through 2015.
This represented an unprecedented level of diplomatic and financial investment in Latin America.
That is why the state channel VTV pointed out that the nations are “strategic allies” that maintain commercial agreements in financial, health, agricultural, cultural, scientific and technological areas, among others.
China and Venezuela have been strategic allies for more than a decade, with trade agreements in various areas (REUTERS)
Even Maduro himself praised his peer on Monday and considered that “very soon” it will be the “largest and most powerful economic power in the entire world”, words that add to the expressions of support for the “global initiatives promoted” by Xi , last May.
On the other hand, this rapprochement of Maduro to the Xi Jinping regime occurs at a time when China’s relations with the United States are at one of their moments of greatest tension due to the geopolitical context.
However, for the Miraflores Palace the situation would appear to be different after having entered into conversations with the White House.
Since the talks that began months ago in Mexico, the parties have made progress in their diplomatic ties and even President Joe Biden said he was considering lifting sanctions on the country in exchange for guarantees for fair elections in 2024.
(With information from EFE and Bloomberg)
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