Venezuela cedes 1 million hectares of agricultural land to Iran
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi, in Tehran, Iran, in June 2022. AP - Vahid Salemi
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
Since being isolated on the international scene against his rival Juan Guaidó, the Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro is approaching other countries such as China, Turkey and Iran.
It has thus just ceded to Tehran a large lot of land to cultivate, within the framework of a twenty-year strategic agreement.
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Caracas has not yet expressed itself on the question, but the remarks of the Iranian deputy minister of economic affairs are taken up
in the official Venezuelan press.
A million hectares of land will therefore soon be sown and cultivated by Iran in Venezuela.
Tehran would like to plant soybeans and maize there and is enthusiastic about the strengths of Venezuela, compared to Brazil or Russia, to ensure its food security.
It was in June that the agreement seems to have been concluded, after a visit by President Nicolas Maduro to Tehran.
The two countries had announced that they had
signed a twenty-year strategic cooperation agreement
"
in all areas
", from energy to defense and tourism, without going into details.
Bilateral relations between Iran and Venezuela were already close under the government of Hugo Chávez.
They have been further strengthened under Nicolas Maduro to overcome the Western sanctions affecting the two allies.
In 2020, Iran had come to the aid of Caracas, with two shipments of fuel, to help it cope with shortages.
Other countries have shown interest in these agricultural lands.
The Turkish Minister of Agriculture was for example on a prospecting visit last week in the northeast of Venezuela.
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Venezuela
Nicola Maduro
Iran
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