The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, assured this Wednesday that the country is going to become a “food producing and exporting power” and will stop depending on oil, what it seeks to achieve through a scheme that has “offered to at least a dozen” nations and investors.
“Venezuela has the offer to come international foreign investment to produce food and convert, as we are going to convert, write it down, (…) Venezuela is going to become a food producing and exporting power, you will see it,” said the head of state in a speech broadcast by the state channel VTV.
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Thus, Maduro continued, “We will no longer be dependent on oil or on anything or anyone in this world,” although until now hydrocarbons have been the country’s main source of foreign exchange, who has the largest proven reserves on the planet.
“We will produce our food (…), we will go to produce food for the world in a scheme that we have organized and we have already offered to at least a dozen countries and investors,” he said.
The president assured that, after having for more than a century “an economic system sick of oil rentism”, Venezuela has been “finding the path of diversification” of its economy.
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Before, he said without specifying the year, that the country imported 90% of everything it consumed, and now produces “more than 80% of the food” that goes to homes.
For its part, The Minister of Agriculture and Lands, Wilmar Soteldo, pointed out that one of the main challenges is to go towards an “internationalization process” of production in which it seeks to attract foreign investment and carry out exports.
In this regard, he stated that the Caribbean nation has already received representatives from “different friendly countries” to produce with Venezuelan producers.
“What comes is investment from outside to produce with our producers, increase productive capacities, leave an important quota for complete everything we need to reach that 100% and export, export to some markets that are already asking for our products, that were tested, and they are very high quality products,” he said.
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The head of the Agriculture portfolio asserted that the country has experienced a “very active week” with bilateral agreements reached with “sister” nations and with the “visit of foreign investors”.
At the end of July, Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Minister Vahit Kirisci was visiting Venezuela for advance in the development of the agricultural sector, result -Soteldo affirmed then- of the “cooperation agreements established between both nations in the last tour” made by Maduro in June by Turkey, Algeria, Iran, Kuwait, Qatar and Azerbaijan.
