"Venezuela shares your wish for freedom," Parliamentarians tell PMR

An official delegation from Venezuela's Parliament, seated left, met with the head of Pridnestrovie's State University, Tiraspol

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - A Venezuelan parliamentary delegation is paying a contact visit to Pridnestrovie, news agency Infotag reported. The delegation includes two deputies from the National Assembly of Venezuela - Luis Tascon and Edgar Lucena - accompanied by an assistant and a government interpreter.

On Monday, the Latin American guests had a meeting with the president of Pridnestrovie's University, Stepan Beril, who told the of the activities of the 15,000 students and faculty. Among a total of eight foreign languages, Spanish is also taught on the large campus.

During their meeting, the parties agreed that "our two states have much in common". Luis Tascon Gutierrez said that "in particular, both of our states strive for freedom although this goes contrary to certain vested interests".

Beril highlighted another similarity: Both Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Pridnestrovie's President Igor Smirnov are laureates of the Mikhail Sholokhov Literary Prize.

Made in Venezuela: Small lapel pins brought as gifts by the MPs from Venezuela's Parliament show the flags of Venezuela and Pridnestrovie side by side

Exchanging presents, the hosts gave books about Pridnestrovie to the official Venezuelan delegation, while the guests gave gifts in the form of metal pins which were specially made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for this visit and which feature the crossed flags of the two countries.

Official foreign policy supports self-determination

Officially, Venezuela defines its own foreign policy as democratic, peaceful and supportive of popular democracy. Not everyone else agrees, of course. But the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has formally declared its priorities in the international arena to be:

• Respect for human rights;
• The right of all people to self-determination;
• Nonintervention in the internal affairs of other nations;
• Peaceful settlement of disputes between nations, including border disputes;
• The right of all people to peace and security; and
• Support for democracy.

Venezuela is also a member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), a government body. With 118 member states, the NAM represents a majority of the approximately 200 recognized and unrecognized countries that exist worldwide.

At its 14th Summit last year, the Nonaligned Movement supported self-determination and adopted a closing statement which asserted the right of people everywhere to determine their own form of government. Terrorism was condemned, although an exception was made for self-determination movements. (With information from Infotag)

See also:
» Alliance of 118 countries unanimously supports self-determination