On September 12, Minister of Culture and Tourism Hu Heping met with visiting Venezuelan Minister of Tourism Ali Padrón and Minister of Transportation Ramón Velasquez in Beijing.

Welcoming Ministers Padron and Velásquez, who are visiting China with Venezuelan President Maduro, Hu Heping said that under the strategic leadership of President Xi Jinping and President Maduro, the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Venezuela has maintained steady and sound development, and the people of the two countries share a deep friendship and are very eager for each other's country's natural scenery and humanistic landscapes. China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism is willing to work with Venezuela to actively implement the consensus of the two heads of state, take the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Venezuela in 2024 as a new starting point, implement the bilateral tourism cooperation plan, and further promote and deepen practical cooperation. China sincerely invites representatives of Venezuelan tourism agencies and cities to come to China to participate in the China International Tourism Fair, join the World Tourism Alliance and the Silk Road Tourism Cities Alliance, and give full play to the unique advantages of tourism to promote people-to-people exchanges and mutual understanding of civilizations.

Padrón expressed his appreciation for China's achievements in tourism development, saying that Venezuela and China have made great progress in practical cooperation in various fields, and the two sides should further deepen tourism cooperation in the future, believing that the bilateral tourism cooperation program will lay a solid foundation for this. Venezuela welcomes the participation of Chinese tourism enterprises in the Venezuela International Tourism Exhibition and looks forward to more Chinese tourists visiting Venezuela to enjoy the beauty of geography and biodiversity. Velasquez said the civil aviation authorities of the two countries are working together to promote the opening of direct flights to facilitate bilateral people-to-people exchanges.