NEWS

Mr. Jorge Arreaza, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Embarked on a One Day Visit to the Federal Republic of Nigeria

On Monday 20th February, 2018, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Jorge Arreaza Monserrat, arrived in African soil with the objective of meeting with his Nigerian counterpart, Geoffrey Onyeama and thus to establish new agreements and joint bilateral and multilateral arrangements.

The visit is part of the Tour of Dignity undertaken by Arreaza since last week, when he visited countries like El Salvador, Cuba, Granada, Dominica and the Dominican Republic. This time, the Minister of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs makes a stop in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to review the contextual relations in the South-South agenda for the peoples of Africa.

The agreements signed between both nations include works in strategic sectors that strengthen dialogue and cooperation between Nigeria and Venezuela, creating training in education and the development of human talent.

Onyeama emphasized the brotherhood existing between his country and the homeland of Bolívar, pointing out that the same blood runs through the veins of both homelands of the southern peoples of the world.

“We maintain excellent friendly relations with Venezuela. The relationship among our people is strong and the African and Nigerian blood runs in the veins of Venezuelans, so we are linked in a very significant way, hence the important relationship between our countries,” he expressed.

He also stressed that the union is important in order to face the challenges that are currently appearing.  “Our countries have great challenges at this moment, we have security challenges, we are facing terrorism and facing the common challenge of the dramatic fall in oil prices.” We are very similar countries, we are oil producers, we are almost the same size and with the challenge of diversifying our economies beyond petroleum “, emphasized the Nigerian diplomat.

The African Minister took advantage of his Latin-American counterparts’ visit to express his solidarity with Venezuela after the constant economic and political attacks perpetrated from the United States and from the European Union. “We are in solidarity, because of the effects of the growing and increasingly severe sanctions they have imposed on the country. We call on those countries involved to adopt a constructive position towards Venezuela,” he urged.

On the same note, Onyeama celebrated the historic opportunity that the country has this coming April 22, when the country will hold its twenty-fifth electoral process in 20 years; showing signs of an unblemished collective democracy.

“We are delighted with the elections that you will soon hold in Venezuela and we appeal to the international community to be in favor of the will of the Venezuelan people and their right to elect their representatives. We believe that in the democratic framework and through these elections, there will be a way to face the challenges in Venezuela and we congratulate your Government for having called upon that option,” he said.

It should be noted that Minister Jorge Arreaza has started an African tour that will run through various nations of this continent to develop an extensive work agenda, which projects the signing of new agreements for the Venezuelan State.