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US President Donald Trump has held talks with Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez at the UN General Assembly, their first face-to-face meeting since the White House backed her to take over the South American country’s government.<\/b><\/p>\n
Rodr\u00edguez succeeded Nicol\u00e1s Maduro shortly after US forces conducted a raid on the Venezuelan capital Caracas and seized him.<\/p>\n
The pair met a few kilometres from the New York jail where Maduro is awaiting trial for drug trafficking and other charges. <\/p>\n
Rodr\u00edguez said they discussed “advancing a cooperation agenda in strategic areas such as energy, mining, and security”.<\/p>\n
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles also attended the meeting.<\/p>\n
Rodr\u00edguez’s government has signed an agreement allowing the US to control more than 65 billion barrels of its oil<\/a> – more than a fifth of the country’s reserves. It grants a US-led company 100-year concessions over 17 oilfields in Venezuela. <\/p>\n Trump previously called it “the biggest oil deal in world history”. <\/p>\n During his address to the UN on Monday, Trump said the US and Venezuela control “more than 60%” of the world’s oil, adding: “To the victor belong the spoils.”<\/p>\n Rodr\u00edguez is due to address the UN on Wednesday. <\/p>\n She previously served as vice-president to Maduro and was sanctioned by the US in 2018, but the measures were lifted in April this year.<\/a><\/p>\n She was sworn in as interim president by Venezuela’s National Assembly days after the US raid with the White House’s blessing.<\/p>\n Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has repeatedly been barred from re-entering the country<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n