Moves to become a member of BRICS Bank.
“The Belt and Road Initiative is laying the foundations for us to break free from the old world of colonialism and imperialism. The enlarged BRICS group is the great engine for the acceleration of the process of the birth of a new world, a world based on cooperation, a world without hegemony.”
Nicolas Maduro
At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is on a state visit to China from Sept. 8 to 14. This is Maduro’s fifth visit to China as president.
China and Venezuela signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on September 14, 2018.
President Maduro’s six-day visit has included stops in the economic and tech hubs of Guangdong, Shanghai and Shenzhen. He will also meet with President Xi Jinping.
Venezuelan Executive Vice President Delcy Rodriguez met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi earlier this week to discuss economic and trade agreements. Cooperation in tech, as well as mining, agriculture and special economic zones is on the agenda.
Maduro has said Venezuela wants to join the BRICS group, and has submitted a formal application to do so. Meanwhile in Beijing, Maduro met with the head of the BRICS’ New Development Bank (NDB) and former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Sunday. Maduro said that he issued orders on Tuesday to his government to expedite the procedures required to join the NDB. He said “We are going to start the process of accession. I have ordered (the government) to take all necessary steps and measures to facilitate submission of Venezuela’s application to join the BRICS bank”.
Venezuela as a country occupies an area that is larger than the combined areas of France and Germany. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world, estimated at over 300 billion barrels, representing 18.17 percent of world reserves.
The recently expanded BRICS block now accounts for 43 per cent of global oil production. Of the current the top ten oil producers – the United States, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Canada, China, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Iran and Kuwait – after the BRICS expansion 6 of these top 10 countries are in the block. Oil production in Venezuela is currently about 3 percent (2.35 million barrels per day) of the world total, largely as a result of aggressive US sanctions in recent years and instability resulting from US orchestrated coup attempts .
VIDEO extract: New China TV, Sep 11, 2023.
https://www.vibby.com/v/XyW9U5XFyl
VIDEO extract: New China TV, Sep 11, 2023. https://www.vibby.com/v/XyW9U5XFyl
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