Venezuela leader meets Turkey's Erdogan in Istanbul

Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez met Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Monday with the pair seeking to step up cooperation in trade, energy and mining, the Turkish president's office said.

Rodriguez, who has led Venezuela since US forces captured former socialist president Nicolas Maduro in January, arrived in Istanbul late on Sunday after a five-day visit to India.

Her arrival was announced on X by Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar, who said she had come at Erdogan's invitation.

During talks at the Dolmabahce Palace on the shores of the Bosphorus, the pair discussed bilateral ties and global events and Erdogan emphasised Turkey's "determination to further advance cooperation... in many areas, particularly in trade, energy, and mining", his office said.

Turkey has strong ties with oil-rich Venezuela, and Erdogan was close to the governments of late socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez and his successor Maduro.

The two nations signed agreements in recent years covering defence, energy, tourism and agriculture.

Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves, but years of corruption, underinvestment and mismanagement have seen a dramatic collapse in production.

The situation worsened with a US oil embargo in 2019, but Washington eased the sanctions after Maduro's capture and Rodriguez has since pushed through reforms opening up the oil industry to private capital.