TEHRAN - The 10th meeting of the Iran-Venezuela Joint Economic Committee opened in Caracas on Monday with representatives of dozens of public and private companies and institutions, along with government officials from both countries in attendance.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the economic meeting, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil emphasized the historic cooperation between the two countries and noted that thanks to the strong political relations, about 300 agreements have been finalized between the two countries.

“In the past two years, we have signed about 80 contracts, we witnessed the visit of President Nicolás Maduro to the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2022 and the visit of late President Ebrahim Raisi to Caracas in 2023, and now we continue making progress in this joint committee meeting,” the official said.

Transportation Minister Ramon Blazquez, the Venezuelan head of the joint committee, also said both sides reaffirmed their commitment to previous agreements and seek to increase cooperation in all areas.

He emphasized the commitment of the two sides to find mechanisms that would allow the improvement of economic cooperation and announced that Iran and Venezuela are planning to reactivate commercial flights between Caracas and Tehran.

The official also announced plans to restart the assembly plant of Iranian cars in the South American country.

Elsewhere in the meeting, Iranian Ambassador to Venezuela Hojatollah Soltani said Venezuela is a "land of opportunities," a new phase of cooperation has begun, and both governments strongly support expanding relations.

Oil, finance, insurance and banking, foreign trade, science and technology, industry, agriculture, fisheries, mining, transportation, and tourism are among the areas of cooperation between Iran and Venezuela to be discussed over four days in specialized committees of the 10th Joint Committee meeting.

EF/MA