Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro at the Amiri Diwan yesterday. During the official talks, the two leaders discussed ways to develop relations between the two countries and prospects for joint cooperation, taking them to broader horizons to serve the common interest of both the peoples, especially in the fields of energy, economy, investment, agriculture and tourism, in addition to reviewing most important regional and international issues.
The Venezuelan President’s visit to Qatar carries particular prominence owing to the close bilateral relations, the current international developments, and most importantly, as the two countries are major players in the energy sector as the world is going through an energy conundrum.
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations at the level of resident ambassadors in 1973, Qatar and Venezuela have been steadily developing friendship relations, forging common grounds in many of the pressing international issues, cooperating in trade, investment, education, culture, tourism, sports, and energy etc.
The exchange of high-level visits, especially H H the Amir’s two visits to Venezuela in May and November 2015, and President Maduro’s visits to Doha in January and September 2015, and October 2016, have taken these relations to new levels of close cooperation.
Common interests of both the countries converge in many areas such as consensus of visions on international issues in which it is imperative to establish peace and stability in the world, coordination in international forums and the most prominent Arab issue, the Palestinian cause. The Arab world is encouraged by the support and solidarity from Venezuela with the right of the Palestinians to establish their independent state, with Jerusalem as its capital and with full membership in the United States according to international principles and resolutions.
The meeting between H H the Amir and the Venezuelan President assumes greater significance in global level as the world is looking eagerly to Qatar and Venezuela to overcome the energy shortage in the aftermath of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Venezuela offers a lot of investment opportunities as the country is fast emerging from a recession showing strong economic recovery, especially after the US eased the sanctions imposed on it allowing oil company Chevron Corporation to resume work in the country, allowing Italy’s Eni and Spain’s Repsol to ship oil from Venezuela to Europe.
Joint cooperation by Qatar and Venezuela will tread extra miles in the international arena as both countries believe in dialogue and mutual respect, sharing the same foundation allowing both to pave a common path based on their determination to build a just world order, using dialogue and mutual understanding as a goal to achieve peace in the world.
