Maduro seeks Chinese investments in Venezuela under new anti-blockade law
Caracas, Nov 6 (efe-epa).- Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro on Friday sought help from China to revive the economy and urged Beijing to take lead in new foreign investments the South American nation hopes to attract under the new anti-blockade law to circumvent international sanctions.
“I ask for the help from China, I ask for the help from (President) Xi Jinping,” Maduro said during a meeting in Caracas with a group of Chinese businessmen.
He said China should help Venezuela so that “the anti-blockade law becomes the expression of new partnerships.”
The law allows Maduro to sign new oil deals with private firms and foreign nations without disclosing them publicly as the government battles severe financial crisis due to almost no oil production and restrictions on crude exports under the sanctions.
Maduro said he would explain the nuances of the matter to his Chinese counterpart in a letter.
He said he was inviting China’s private and public companies to invest in Venezuela through the anti-blockade law for shared benefits and development within the terms of close ties between the two countries.
Maduro told the Chinese businessmen that Venezuela was open to investment in petrochemicals, as well as to expand opportunities in refineries of the energy-rich country.
“We are open, ready and ready to advance rapidly in investments in gold, iron, steel, aluminum, precious stones (…) the anti-blockade law allows everything, Let us do it, let us build it in a new stage,” he said.
The anti-blockade law was approved in October by the national assembly, made up only of ruling party members and which is not recognized by several countries.
The parliament okayed the legislation after a one-sided debate that did not discuss the law and its clauses.
The speakers defended the need to pass it in the wake of the United States-led global sanctions.
The law is intended, according to its Article 1, to provide the “public power” with legal tools to “counter, mitigate and reduce, in an effective, urgent and necessary manner, the harmful effects generated by the imposition” of financial sanctions, mainly those by the US.
Maduro said he drafted the law that would be in effect until all the sanctions were removed, particularly by the US. EFE-EPA
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