Tehran, Iran, Jan. 10
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hold a meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro in Tehran on Jan. 10.
During the meeting the two sides stressed on the need to boost bilateral ties, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported.
Rouhani said that expanding relations with Latin American countries including Venezuela is among the top priorities of the government.
Iranian president also declared his country's readiness to exports goods and technical and engineering services to Caracas.
"Iran can help Venezuela in different sectors including housing, roads construction, industry, medicines production, and food stuff production," Rouhani said.
Maduro, for his part, said that Venezuela seeks to boost its relations with Iran in all areas.
He also called for reestablishment of Tehran-Caracas direct flight.
The two sides also stressed on close cooperation in order to stabilize oil prices.
Maduro arrived in Tehran on Jan. 9 night to discuss issues of mutual interest with Iranian officials.
Maduro was welcomed in Tehran's international Mehrabad Airport by Iran's Minister of Industries, Mines and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh as well as Islmaic Republic's deputy foreign minister, Majid Takht Ravanchi.
Iran is the third country that Maduro has visited, after Russia and China.
Maduro has started an international tour that will bring him to visit the member nations of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), to address the issue of falling oil prices and strengthen cooperation.
Venezuela and Iran need the oil price to be above $100 to balance their budgets, according to estimates from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and other analysts, higher than the Gulf members who can tolerate lower oil revenues for years.
The fall in the global crude oil price from almost $110/barrel to below $50/barrel in recent months has imposed serious pressure on the mentioned countries' economy.
The OPEC oil basket price was $107.89 in mid-June, but has been in dramatic decline, especially after October. The price stood at $45.74 a barrel on Jan. 8.
OPEC members held a meeting in ministerial level November 27, 2014 to evaluate the global oil market and the falling trend of the oil price. Iran and Venezuela wanted to lower the Cartel's oil output and set a new ceiling level below the current 30 mbpd level.
OPEC says that the demand for the organization's crude is estimated at 29.4 mbpd in 2014. In 2015, the figure is estimated to reach 28.9 mbpd.