Trump, Venezuela’s Rodriguez hold first face-to-face meeting in New York

US President Donald Trump and Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodriguez have met in person for the first time on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, reported German Press Agency (dpa).

Rodriguez described the encounter in a post on the social media platform X on Tuesday evening as “historic” and said the two leaders discussed strengthening bilateral ties.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the meeting as brief but important. “We want to help them rebuild their economy,” he told reporters.

The US wants to support Venezuela in its economic reconstruction and in establishing stability, while also creating the conditions “to truly have free and fair elections”.

Rodriguez wrote in her post, which also showed a photo of her and Trump smiling together: “We held a historic meeting with the President of the US, Donald Trump, with whom we discussed strengthening the bilateral relationship between our countries.”

According to Rodriguez, the talks focused on closer cooperation in energy, mining and security.

She also thanked Trump and his administration for their support following the severe earthquakes in Venezuela at the end of June and for their support in reintegrating her country into multilateral organisations.

The US seized authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores in an operation against Venezuela at the start of this year.

Both are held in a New York prison just a few kilometres from the UN building where the meeting took place. They are to face trial on charges of alleged involvement in international drug trafficking.