On Thursday, the People’s Power Minister for Foreign Relations, Jorge Arreaza, described the cooperation and solidarity expressed by the Russian Federation towards the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela as “an extended and useful hand, not just a moral force”, conference with Russian and international media from Moscow city.
He stressed that the relationship with the Eurasian nation is sustained by the values of brotherhood, solidarity and sincerity; “It goes to the economic reality of our countries, it has an energetic, industrial, health and many other fundamental expressions.”
He also stated that he shares with President Vladimir Putin his vision of the world through collective decisions, multilateralism and the strengthening of the United Nations.
The Venezuelan Foreign Minister arrived in Moscow on Tuesday and on Wednesday accompanied, on behalf of President Nicolás Maduro, the military parade in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War against Hitler’s Nazi Germany, which occurred on 9 May 1945. He has also held meetings with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov and with Vice-prime Minister Yuri Borisov.
Taking stock of these meetings with Russian government authorities, Minister Arreaza highlighted that with the Vice-prime Minister they reviewed the status and critical nodes of the bilateral projects that both nations are developing in the areas of energy, transportation, mining, agriculture, health, pharmaceutical and education, among others.
He said that they talked about carrying out in Caracas, as soon as the sanitary and flight restrictions in both countries are lifted due to the coronavirus, the pending meeting of the High Level Intergovernmental Commission (CIAN), in order to “continue advancing, exploring new sectors and cooperation formulas.”
With Foreign Minister Lavrov, he specified that they spoke of the need to activate, even in the midst of the pandemic, the Group of Countries in Defense of the UN Charter, and shared the experience of approaching and containing COVID-19, in whose plan response Venezuela has had the solidarity of Russia, China and other actors such as the UN.
Thanks to Cuba
When asked for his opinion by Prensa Latina on a project in the United States Congress, proposed by Senator Marco Rubio, to sanction countries that accept Cuban medical cooperation, Foreign Minister Arreaza said that the mere proposal is absurd, crazy, perverse and criminal and those would be the adjectives to label the US Government if they were to approve it. “We would be talking about a necrophilic empire, an empire of death”, he said.
Likewise, he was in favor of the proposal to nominate the Cuban medical brigade “Henry Reeve” for the Nobel Peace Prize, considering exemplary the disinterested cooperation and absolute dedication of Cuba with the peoples of the world in health matters and to thank all the support given to Venezuela.
Finally, he appreciated the support that Russia has always given towards political dialogue in Venezuela, recalling that during his visit to Caracas last February, Foreign Minister Lavrov met with the National Dialogue Table, in which representatives of the Bolivarian Government and opposition parties converge.