Overview
- Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal met Venezuela’s Ecological Mining Development Minister Hector Silva in Visakhapatnam on the sidelines of the 30th CII Partnership Summit.
- Venezuela signaled interest in cooperation on critical minerals and in attracting Indian investment to diversify engagement beyond petroleum.
- Goyal called for reactivating the India–Venezuela Joint Committee Mechanism, which has not met in a decade.
- India highlighted ONGC’s ongoing presence in Venezuela as a base for deeper collaboration in mining and exploration.
- Goyal proposed that Venezuela consider accepting the Indian Pharmacopeia to ease pharmaceutical trade and flagged scope to expand cooperation in the automobile sector while engaging Indian businesses on investment opportunities.