Barbados and Venezuela have signed a joint declaration on, among other things, food and energy security, education and tourism.
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, the first Caribbean leader to visit the country since former president Nicolas Maduro was held by United States forces in January, met with the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Delcy Rodríguez yesterday during an official visit to the country. Rodríguez, in one of her first official overseas trips since assuming the office visited Barbados in April.
The two leaders reaffirmed the historical ties of friendship, fraternity, and cooperation inspired, they said, by mutual solidarity between their peoples, complementarity, and reciprocal benefit as fundamental pillars for sustainable development.
Following up on the highlevel commitments reached during the bilateral talks in Barbados there was a highlevel working meeting with the participation of ministers and authorities responsible for energy, agriculture, fisheries, education, culture, and tourism, the key engines of development, underpinned by trade and transport across all sectors.
Technical assistance
As a result, the two have agreed, on energy security, to develop the commercial exchange of hydrocarbons and oil derivatives, promote cooperation for the training and capacity-building of Barbadians in Venezuelan and provide technical assistance and training in land exploration and fields’ recovery.
In the area of food security to reach the goal of enhancing food security, mitigating shocks and uncertainty and developing trade and collaboration in the agricultural and fisheries sectors, it was agreed to design a joint work plan between the ministries of agriculture of both countries, to address issues of climate change, resilient agricultural systems, livestock management systems, soil health and research and development, through specialised technical engagements. There is also to be a bilateral protocol for export and import permits and requirements for meat products and enhanced communication between the ministries of agriculture to ensure policy alignment, enhance data sharing, and to improve crisis management.
For education and culture the countries have agreed to create a working group between the Ministries of Education to advance educational collaboration in language training for all students, teachers and professionals along with expanding legal instruments and logistics for student exchanges in languages (Spanish and English), music, the arts, science and technology and other areas.
They have settled on implementing scholarships in agreed areas and the implementation of pilot scholarship programmes in each country for students commencing in the 2027-28 academic year.
There will be a signing of a bilateral tourism agreement in the coming weeks to increase visitor flow, facilitate coordination among tour operators, conduct periodic business matchmakings, launch multidestination packages, offer training in universities and hotel schools, and activate shopping and wellness tourism.
There is also a planned Barbadian Minister of Tourism’s official visit to Venezuela during the next four months to deepen the sector’s work plan among other initiatives including a permanent technical cooperation mechanism focused on sharing knowledge and best practices on lowimpact infrastructure resilient to extreme climate events.
“In anticipation of the normalisation of air and maritime transport of people and goods and the reopening of Maiquetia International Airport, both nations will work to: harmonise the necessary arrangements for cargo transport; Promote commercial exchange with public and private sector entities; establish and implement arrangements for commercial shipping services and the opening of a direct maritime cargo route and the promoting of the Bridgetown-Porlamar-Caracas commercial route and project both countries as air connectivity transit hubs, taking into account current connections with Europe and the rest of the world,” stated the joint declaration.
During the visit Prime Minister Mottley expressed condolences for the victims of the seismic doublet of June 24, wishing Venezuela a speedy recovery.
President Rodríguez thanked Barbados for the immediate deployment of rescuers, the shipment of humanitarian aid, and the setup of a Field Hospital in Guarenas, Miranda State, which has provided care to more than 2,600 Venezuelans. Mottley visited the Field Hospital observing its operations and interacting with patients and compatriots.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is slated to Barbados in the coming weeks. (AC)
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