Russia to supply up to 50,000 tonnes of grain to Venezuela as of 2017 - Deputy PM Rogozin

CARACAS, December 7. /TASS/. Moscow and Caracas will sign a contract on supplying from 30,000 to 50,000 tonnes of grain from Russia to Venezuela, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Rogozin, told reporters following meeting of the Russian-Venezuelan High-Level Commission. "A commercial contract consisting of two parts was initialed earlier today and will be signed in January," he said. "The issue at hand is supplying from 30,000 to 50,000 tonnes of wheat to Venezuela, which until now was purchased in Canada and the US." According to Rogozin, if Venezuela provides relevant guarantees, in the future Russia could become a leading wheat supplier to that country. The second aspect of cooperation concerns phytosanitary control of products imported from Russia, with Venezuela taking into account their high ecological compatibility. Rogozin stressed that until recently cooperation between the two countries was based primarily on two major projects in military-technical cooperation and oil. "This time the High-Level Commission began to discuss for the first time the issues related to the diversification of this cooperation, which now includes several new projects," he said, adding that agriculture where cooperation has huge prospects is among the top priorities. Read more