Zarif in Venezuela to Attend NAM Confab

EghtesadOnline: Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in Caracas, Venezuela, early on Saturday to address a high-level meeting of Non-Aligned Movement.

News ID: ۷۴۷۹۳۰

21 July 2019

NAM is a multinational organization comprising 120 developing states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.

The event will mark the end of Venezuela's chairmanship and Azerbaijan's assumption of the position.

Besides taking part in the confab, Zarif is also set to meet Venezuelan authorities, including the foreign minister and president of the national assembly, to discuss bilateral ties, Financial Tribune reported.

"We will … discuss the two countries' mutual cooperation, as well as how Iran can help restore peace to this country," he told reporters upon his departure from New York, ISNA reported.

Venezuela has been grappling with a socioeconomic and political crisis since 2010. There is a controversy about who is the legitimate president of this country. Nicolas Maduro, the incumbent president, was reelected in January 2018, but a US-backed opposition group declared the election invalid, introducing Juan Guaido as acting president of the nation.

Speaking to media after landing in Caracas, Zarif blamed the US for creating instability and insecurity in the Middle East and Latin America.

"Wherever the USA steps, it brings instability and insecurity… Wherever they go, they cause instability, pressure on people and increase in radicalism and terrorism," he said.

He also commended the resistance of the Venezuelan people against the US, saying it is very important for the world.

"Without the interference of the USA, the people of Venezuela know how to live together and how to get along with each other," he said.

Zarif is slated to travel to Nicaragua and Bolivia afterwards where he will meet their presidents and foreign ministers.

"They have been our political and economic allies in the past and these relations have remained the same until present time," he said.