President Erdoğan and Venezuela leader Maduro on Monday attended the Turkey-Venezuela Business Forum, where the pair signed several deals which were followed by a joint news conference.
ERDOĞAN: I AM WILLING TO STRENGTHEN TIES
Erdoğan said his friend Maduro was facing manipulative attacks from certain countries and acts of sabotage from economic assassins. In response, Erdoğan said he was willing to strengthen trade ties. Trade between the two countries has been growing, with Turkish data showing the country imported $900 million in gold from Venezuela in the first nine months of the year.
Without naming the United States, Maduro decried sanctions and said Venezuela had the right to sell gold. “It is very petty to try to use an illegal sanction to prevent Venezuela from selling its gold to the world,” Maduro said during a joint press conference later on Monday with Erdoğan, who also visited Paraguay after attending the G20 in Argentina last weekend.
“MADURO IS IN AN UNUSUAL FRIENDSHIP WITH TURKEY”
President Erdoğan’s official visit to Venezuela was added BBC’s agenda. “Venezuela’s diplomatically-isolated president received a show of support from Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He is in an unusual friendship with Turkey.” BBC said on Twitter over Erdoğan’s offer to help Venezuela.