Venezuela’s Rodriguez calls on Modi, hold talks with Jaishankar, Puri
India-Venezuela energy cooperation. (Image courtesy: X/@delcyrodriguezv)
New Delhi: The acting Venezuelan president, Delcy Rodriguez, who is on an official visit to India from June 3 to 6, called on the prime minister, Narendra Modi, and the foreign minister, S Jaishankar, in New Delhi on Thursday. On her arrival in India, the Ministry of External Affairs said the visit would provide an opportunity for both countries to strengthen cooperation and build on their momentum in the bilateral partnership.
The MEA’s secretary (east), Rudrendra Tandon, during a special briefing on Rodriguez’s India visit, said that her official talks with Modi went over a working lunch. On Thursday evening, she also met the oil minister, Hardeep Singh Puri.
In a post on X, Puri said the leaders of India’s energy PSUs also met Rodriguez, adding that India has a longstanding energy partnership with Venezuela since 2008 and shares unique ties with the country.
He added that Venezuela possesses the biggest proven reserves of oil in the world, while India possesses a huge demand for energy along with technological expertise and manpower to refine Venezuelan crude in our refineries. “Venezuela is already among the largest crude oil suppliers to India in April & May 2026, which is a reflection of the future potential. Our technical team will visit Venezuela soon to further explore this potential.”
He added that Indian companies already had existing investments in Venezuela and now looked forward to building upon them.
Rodriguez is accompanied by a very large ministerial delegation that includes the country’s foreign, communications, finance, science and transport ministers. Her visit to India has put into focus India’s growing energy needs amid the uncertainty due to the war in West Asia.
On whether India plans to diversify its crude oil imports and move away from Russian imports, Tandon said, India will “buy oil from wherever”. He said, “The problems in the Middle East have led all governments, including India, to aggressively seek to diversify their sources, so we will do that.”
The Indian and Venezuelan delegations discussed ways in which Indian commercial entities could enter the Venezuelan market successfully, and a new partnership in these areas could be forged.
