Above: Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro is visiting Trinidad and Tobago this week.

The visit comes after an invitation extended by Trinidad Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar after the CELAC summit in Costa Rica last month.

In a statement, Trinidad’s government said a major aspect of the visit would be the “re-affirmation of a commitment to bilateral cooperation on energy matters of interest to both countries.”

“Since coming into office in 2010, Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar and the People’s Partnership Government actively sought to move discussions forward on the exploitation and development of the hydrocarbon resources located in several fields which cross the maritime delimitation line between the two nations,” the government said.

The government said bilateral development of those fields were “expected to yield considerable socioeconomic benefits to both countries.”

Maduro last visited Trinidad and Tobago in July 2013 for the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting.