New York, Sept 23. (dpa/GNA) – US President Donald Trump, and Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez, have met in person for the first time on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Rodríguez described the encounter in a post on X on Tuesday evening as “historic” and said, the two leaders discussed strengthening bilateral ties.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the meeting as brief but important. “We want to help them rebuild their economy,” he told reporters.
The US wants to support Venezuela in its economic reconstruction and in establishing stability, while also creating the conditions “to truly have free and fair elections.”
Rodríguez wrote in her post, which also showed a photo of her and Trump smiling together: “We held a historic meeting with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, with whom we discussed strengthening the bilateral relationship between our countries.”
Rodríguez said the talks focused on closer cooperation in energy, mining and security. She also thanked Trump and his administration for their support, following the severe earthquakes in Venezuela at the end of June and for their support in reintegrating her country into multilateral organizations.
The US seized then Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in an operation against Venezuela at the start of this year.
Both are held in a New York prison, just a few kilometres from the UN building where the meeting took place.
They are to face trial on charges of alleged involvement in international drug trafficking.
Rodríguez previously served as vice president under Maduro, and subsequently took over as acting president of the South American country.
Since then, Venezuela has been working more closely with the US, which is seeking to exploit the country’s vast oil reserves.
Last month, Trump announced that a deal had been struck with Rodríguez. Through a private company, the US had secured majority control over more than 65 billion barrels of oil reserves, equivalent to around one fifth of Venezuela’s estimated reserves.
GNA