Venezuela hands over invitation for NAM Summit

New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday held a meeting with her visiting Venezuelan counterpart Delcy Rodriguez during which the latter handed over an invitation to attend the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit that Venezuela will be hosting next month.

According to a statement issued by the External Affairs Ministry, Rodriguez was accompanied by a 14-member delegation, including Venezuelan Minister of Petroleum and President of Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), Eulogio del Pino, and Venezuelan Vice Minister for Asia, Middle East and Oceania, Felix Plasencia.

Rodriguez handed over the invitation to attend the 17th NAM Summit to be held in the Venezuelan city of Porlamar on September 17-18.

"During the meeting, the ministers discussed the whole gamut of bilateral issues and views were exchanged on various multilateral issues," the statement said.

Earlier on Thursday, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan hosted a lunch in honour of the visiting dignitaries.

This is the second invitation for the NAM Summit that Venezuela has extended to India.

There is speculation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to attend the NAM Summit weeks after he received an invitation.

The last time an Indian Prime Minister did not attend a NAM Summit was in 1979 when Charan Singh was the caretaker Prime Minister.