Venezuela, Iran agree to boost anti-virus cooperation

Venezuela and Iran agreed Monday to strengthen cooperation against the coronavirus pandemic that affected more than 1.8 million people across the globe.

President Nicolas Maduro and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani agreed "to strengthen the historic comprehensive ties of cooperation between both nations, especially in light of the challenges posed by current global circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on the lives of millions of human beings and its consequences for the global economy," Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said in a statement on Twitter.

The statement said two leaders expressed their willingness for a joint approach to the virus and guarantee effective communication between scientific experts from both countries to exchange experiences on good practices, clinical protocols and preventive measures.

Maduro and Rouhani also underlined the importance of strengthening the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and welcomed the recent agreement of the OPEC mechanism, as a collective first step towards stabilizing the oil market.

OPEC and its allies have reached a final agreement late Sunday to cut their collective oil production by a record level of 10 million barrels per day (bpd) starting from next month to balance the oil market.

The presidents also denounced the Trump government and its sanctions policy against both countries.

"To conclude, Presidents Hassan Rouhani and Nicolas Maduro reiterated their complaint against unilateral coercive measures imposed illegally and arbitrarily by the Trump Administration against their peoples while ratifying that they will fight together against those cruel and inhuman sanctions that Washington decides to maintain and even expand at such delicate times for humanity," the statement read.