September 18, 2025

Get ready for a fresh twist in global ties! India and Venezuela are joining hands to launch exciting pilot projects in some hot areas like agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and digital public infrastructure. This comes after Raul Hernandez, Venezuela’s Vice-Minister for Development of Information and Communications Technology, visited India from September 14 to 17, 2025. During his visit, Mr. Hernandez met with Secretary (East) P. Kumaran from India’s Ministry of External Affairs. According to official sources, "Both sides agreed to carry out pilot projects in the priority areas of Venezuela." But that’s not all—they also talked about training Venezuelan technical staff in AI and related fields. Venezuela showed real interest in sending its experts to India for courses! Apart from AI, the discussions covered space, pharmaceuticals, tourism, and other areas both countries care about. This has all happened while tensions are rising between the US and Venezuela, especially after President Trump accused Caracas of sending narcotics into the US. Interesting timing, isn’t it? Mr. Hernandez also visited some big names in India like the National Institute of Smart Governance (NISG), UIDAI that runs the famous AADHAR digital ID system, NeGD responsible for DigiLocker, and the AI platform AI BHASHINI. Over in the agriculture corner, Indian ambassador P.K. Ashok Babu held talks with Venezuela’s Agriculture Minister Julio Leon Heredia to boost cooperation in farming and livestock. Let’s talk numbers! In 2024-25, trade between India and Venezuela stood at around $1.8 billion. Indian exports were about $216 million, mostly pharmaceuticals, while imports from Venezuela were a hefty $1.6 billion. India supplies nearly 40% of Venezuela’s yearly medicine needs! Why? Venezuela faces serious medicine shortages and high costs from Western suppliers, so Indian pharma products worth around $110 million in 2024-25 have been a lifesaver. Plus,"India has also been supplying vaccines and essential medicines, on grant, to meet Venezuela’s emergency requirements," as an official source revealed. An expert from Moscow, Mikhail Ilevich, who studies Latin America, thinks the US-Venezuela friction is pushing Caracas to make friends with Delhi. He said, "Of course, testing the waters for strengthening cooperation between Caracas and Delhi is a consequence of the aggressive policy of the United States." Sounds like India is stepping in at just the right time. So, here’s the masaledar story—amid global drama, India and Venezuela are cooking up a spicy new partnership with pilot projects and robust trade ties. Who knows where this flavorful journey will lead? Stay tuned!

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Tags: India-venezuela relations, Pilot projects, Digital infrastructure, Pharmaceuticals, Ai training, Bilateral trade,