CARACAS, December 7. /TASS/. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is planning to personally monitor the implementation of the agreements reached within the Russian-Venezuelan High-Level Commission, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told reporters following bilateral meeting with Venezuela’s leader.
"President Maduro decided to personally oversee all the agreements, which have been reached during this meeting," he said. "He asked all ministers to brief him on the implementation of the agreements that have been reached on a weekly basis."
Maduro received Rogozin at a military base near the city of Valencia where Simon Bolivar’s army began its liberation campaign in 1819. According to Rogozin, during the meeting the two sides raised the issues related to political cooperation.
"Venezuela has traditionally supported Russia’s stance on Syria, Ukraine and, naturally, on Crimea. We support Venezuela’s stance, which is committed to independence and pursues its own policy," Rogozin noted.
In accordance with diplomatic traditions, the parties exchanged gifts. Maduro presented Rogozin a sculpture of Bolivar’s army soldier made of clay. The Russian deputy prime minister presented the Venezuelan leader a replica of Yuri Gagarin’s navigation watch the world’s first cosmonaut wore during his historic spaceflight.
Grain export
Moscow and Caracas will sign a contract on supplying from 30,000 to 50,000 tonnes of grain from Russia to Venezuela, Dmitry Rogozin told reporters following meeting of the Russian-Venezuelan High-Level Commission.
"A commercial contract consisting of two parts was initialed earlier today and will be signed in January," he said. "The issue at hand is supplying from 30,000 to 50,000 tonnes of wheat to Venezuela, which until now was purchased in Canada and the US."
According to Rogozin, if Venezuela provides relevant guarantees, in the future Russia could become a leading wheat supplier to that country. The second aspect of cooperation concerns phytosanitary control of products imported from Russia, with Venezuela taking into account their high ecological compatibility.
Rogozin stressed that until recently cooperation between the two countries was based primarily on two major projects in military-technical cooperation and oil. "This time the High-Level Commission began to discuss for the first time the issues related to the diversification of this cooperation, which now includes several new projects," he said, adding that agriculture where cooperation has huge prospects is among the top priorities.