Venezuela’s Maduro Signs Deals with Turkey and Azerbaijan, Meets with Putin

Caracas, October 11, 2016 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro concluded a series of bilateral agreements with his Turkish and Azerbaijani counterparts Monday on the sidelines of the 23^rd annual World Energy Congress in Istanbul.

Welcomed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Venezuelan leader indicated that the two nations agreed to expand their cooperation in the areas of energy, culture, as well as economic and social development.

“Extraordinary day of work with the President of Turkey, we’ve decided to deepen relations and investments between our countries,” Maduro stated via his official Twitter account, following the bilateral meeting.

As part of the agreements, both countries will invest in improvements to port and transport infrastructure at the Jose Antonio Anzoátegui Refinery as well as in the construction of an oil storage facility on Turkey’s Mediterranean border.

Beginning on December 12, Turkish Airlines will offer regular commercial flights to Caracas, which will be refueled with gasoline provided by Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA.

The two nations also agreed to establish a bartering mechanism whereby Venezuela can receive infrastructure, medicine, food, and other necessities on favorable terms, in exchange for oil.

PDVSA signed a memorandum of understanding with the Turkish transport giant Global Liman– the largest operator of ports and cruise ships in the world– paving the way to supply gasoline to vessels in ports managed by the firm.

President Erdogan, for his part, pledged to visit Venezuela early next year in order to further strengthen ties. 

During the summit, Maduro additionally held a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, in which the two heads of state outlined a series of steps to bolster cooperation in the areas of tourism, culture, agriculture, finance, and energy.

Azerbaijan, which will succeed Venezuela as president pro tempore of the Non-Aligned Movement in 2019, also pledged its support for the preliminary agreement reached by OPEC last month to freeze global oil output.

Maduro also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which the two leaders voiced support for a reduction of worldwide crude production in order to stabilize slumping prices.

On September 29, all 14 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to cap global crude production at between 32.5 and 33 million barrels per day.

The bloc is scheduled to meet again on November 30 in order to finalize the agreement and discuss the incorporation of non-OPEC producers, such as Russia and Azerbaijan, which have given the initiative their backing.