MOSCOW, November 16. /TASS/. Moscow and Caracas have agreed on increasing the rates of energy cooperation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"We have got numerous projects in the area of oil production and development of gas fields, agriculture, medicine and pharma, communications, space, new technologies. On all areas we have reached an agreement to boost rates and scale of cooperation in accordance with decisions taken last month, on October 16, at the 17th meeting of the high-level intergovernmental commission of Russia and Venezuela," Lavrov told a press conference following the talks with his Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil Pinto.

Today direct flights are stably performed between Moscow and Caracas, as well as between a whole number of Russian cities and the Venezuelan resort area on Margarita Island, he noted. "This is surely pushing the tourist flow from Russia to Venezuela up and helps building contacts between businessmen and overall, through other agencies, including cultural and humanitarian exchange," Lavrov concluded.