The Diplomat
The Governments of Venezuela and Equatorial Guinea signed last Wednesday a “confidentiality agreement” on hydrocarbons with the purpose of contributing to “the construction of a better world of free and equal people”.
According to the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release, the agreement was signed in Caracas by the Vice-President of Economy and Venezuelan Minister of Petroleum, Tareck El Aissami (against whom there is an arrest warrant in the US for alleged drug trafficking), and the Equatoguinean Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons, Gabriel Mbega Obiang Lima (son of the country’s president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, and brother of the vice-president and presumed successor of his father, Teodoro Nguema Obiang, better known as Teodorín). Both ministers signed from Caracas and Malabo by videoconference, accompanied by their respective ambassadors accredited in both countries.
After the signing of the agreement, Tareck El Aissami stated that the government of President Nicolás Maduro is committed to accompany Equatorial Guinea in the country’s hydrocarbon development plans through technical assistance and knowledge exchange. “Now we are being reborn in love, hope and work, in the construction of a better world, of free and equals; that is why Africa and South America have a lot to do for this new world”, he added.
Likewise, he assured that the Venezuelan Government is willing to offer its experience of more than one hundred years of oil production in favor of the people of Equatorial Guinea. “We feel Africa in our soul, in our heart,” he affirmed. “This political will to overcome any adversity is also at the disposal of the Equatorial Guinean people,” he continued. “This is a great South-South cooperation to achieve the energy independence of our nations and we are happy to have materialized this signature,” he added.
For his part, Obiang Lima stated that this agreement constitutes an important milestone because it paves the way towards complementarity and oil development between both nations. He also highlighted the importance of cooperation in exploration, refinery management and training, technical areas of great interest to the African country. “Venezuela is a country with more than a hundred years of experience in the oil sector and it is convenient to take advantage of the good relations of cooperation to enrich technical capabilities in some specific areas,” he added.
