New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday (January 30) spoke over the phone and agreed to expand bilateral relations “in all areas” including energy.Per the Ministry of External Affairs’s readout, Rodriguez – who took over as acting president after US forces captured former President Nicolas Maduro and rendered him to New York earlier this month – phoned Modi and the two leaders agreed to “further expand and deepen” relations “in all areas”, among them “trade and investment, energy, digital technology, health, agriculture and people-to-people ties”.They also discussed “regional and global issues of mutual interest” and underlined the importance of their close cooperation for the Global South” before agreeing to stay in touch, the ministry said.Modi, who posted about the phone call in English and Spanish on X, said he and Rodriguez discussed their “shared vision” of taking relations to “new heights in the years ahead”.Rodriguez, who was vice president of Venezuela before Maduro’s capture, wrote on X saying their conversation was “cordial” and “marked by a deep human and spiritual connection”, and that they had discussed cooperation in the mining and automotive sectors as well.She also expressed thanks for the “solidarity and support of the government and people of India to our country”, adding that Modi “reiterated his commitment to supporting the Venezuelan people in defending their peace, sovereignty and independence”.A day after US forces captured Maduro from Caracas on January 3 the external affairs ministry said the development was a “matter of deep concern” and expressed its support for the Venezuelan people, although it stopped short of naming the United States or condemning Washington’s move.Its subdued and relatively delayed reaction came against the backdrop of rocky Indo-US relations and the White House’s enduring 50% tariff on Indian goods, half of which is a ‘penalty’ for India’s purchases of Russian oil.The two leaders’ phone call on Friday came a day after Rodriguez opened up Venezuela’s oil sector to privatisation, positioning the long-crippled industry to attract the foreign investment it needs for a revamp.The acting president signed a legislation that promises to give private companies control over the production and sale of oil, ending the state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA)’s monopoly over those activities as well as pricing.Rodriguez had proposed the changes earlier this month after US President Donald Trump said his administration would take control of Venezuela’s oil exports and revitalise the ailing industry by luring foreign investment.As the new legislation was signed in Caracas, the US treasury department officially began to ease punishing economic sanctions on Venezuelan oil, which were imposed by the first Trump administration, and expanded the ability of US energy companies to operate in the South American nation.Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves.Before the first Trump administration imposed its sanctions on Venezuelan oil in 2019, India for a number of years was Caracas’s second-largest market for crude.Indian oil firms also have investments in Venezuelan oilfields and Mint reported earlier this week that Indian officials were in talks with their Venezuelan and US counterparts over ONGC Videsh’s pending dividends worth hundreds of millions of dollars from the San Cristobal project in which PDVSA has a majority stake.Reuters has reported that Indian refiners have expressed interest in purchasing Venezuelan oil in the days following Maduro’s ouster, although it quoted one executive as saying earlier this week that “offers are not there” and “traders are looking to meet their commitment to the US market”.With inputs from AP.