Venezuela seeks to strengthen technological cooperation with Türkiye

Venezuela aims to increase trade relations with Türkiye, President Nicolas Maduro said Thursday.

Maduro made the remarks at the Iran-Venezuela Scientific, Technological and Industrial ExpoFair being held from Sept. 14-18 in the capital Caracas.

"We have to build our own technological model. We have to learn from the technological model of the rebirth of China, of Russia, of Iran, of India, of our brothers in Türkiye, the rebirth of the powers and superpowers and of the emerging powers, of the emerging world," he said.

In June, the Venezuelan president visited Türkiye as part of an 11-day international tour. Maduro and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signed eight cooperation agreements in science and technology, agriculture and land, transportation and tourism.

Since the U.S. imposed sanctions that have aggravated the economic crisis the South American country is experiencing, Maduro has sought to find new international partners.

On Thursday, Maduro dismissed the Biden administration's warning that it will intensify sanctions against his country if negotiations with the opposition are not resumed soon.

"They will shout threats, the US empire, but they should know that their threats are lost at the bottom of the sea of contempt and oblivion and their arrogance remains as a sad fable of what they were and will never be again -- a unique empire," said the president at the ExpoFair.

Maduro claims that the time of the "dominant empires" is over and that "the time has come" for peace and cooperation with other countries.