Iran, Venezuela to sign 20-year cooperation plan

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On Friday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced that there will be a signing of a 20-year cooperation plan with Iran, as he arrived in Tehran on a 2-day official visit.

In an interview with Spanish-speaking Iranian television station Hispantv, Maduro announced that there will be weekly flights from the capital, Caracas, to Tehran, in addition to that Venezuelan coffee will be sold to Iran. There will be plans to sign an agreement on Saturday.

Details regarding the cooperation plan were not revealed. 

Hispantv also reported that Maduro will be meeting the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, during the 2-day visit. 

Since 2020, the two countries have worked on expanding cooperation, especially in energy projects and oil trade amid the draconian US sanctions that they have been repeatedly subject to. This has helped both countries ease the effects of the sanctions on their economies.

In May, the National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company signed a contract worth 110 million euros to repair Venezuela's smaller 146,000 barrel-per-day refinery.

Read more: Tanker carrying Iranian oil arrives in Venezuelan waters: Reports

Tehran is one stop in Maduro's trajectory, as he has also visited Turkey and Algeria on an official trip. Maduro revealed that he was accompanied by ministers and officials specialized in the areas of agriculture, technology, oil, communications, tourism, and transport.

After Turkey and Algeria, Maduro arrives in Iran

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrived in Tehran, Friday, as part of his international tour. Accompanied by a high-ranking political and economic delegation, the Venezuelan President sought to meet his Iranian counterpart President Ibrahim Raisi. The two presidents were scheduled to chair the meetings and joint committees between the two friendly nations.

On Thursday, Maduro visited Algeria, where the media reported that "the energy file is at the top of the agenda of President Maduro's talks, with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, and senior Algerian officials and the file of re-resurrection of the Non-Aligned Movement will be one of the most important issues raised." The purpose of the visit was to discuss energy solutions and agreements given the similar approach the countries have towards this topic.

These visits come as part of an international tour by the Venezuelan president, which started in Turkey. Throughout that visit, the Venezuelan President held talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to discuss the relations between the two countries. The discussions involved the situation in the Americas after Venezuela and a handful of other anti-imperialist countries were excluded from the Summit of the Americas in the United States.