As it was agreed by the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and the President of Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Hugo Chávez on December 20-21, 2010 the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Kostyantýn Grýshchenko paid an official visit to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The delegation headed by the Minister included representatives of ministries, governmental agencies and leading companies of Ukraine, interested in development of cooperation with Venezuela.

The negotiations of the official delegations of Ukraine and Venezuela, presided by Kostyantýn Grýshchenko and the Foreign Minister of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro Moros, demonstrated mutual interest in the intensification of Ukrainian-Venezuelan relations, particularly through realization of specific projects in aviation, metallurgy, power engineering, agriculture, as well as in the fields of science, technology, and education.

Within the framework of the visit the Minister held meetings with the President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez, Vice-President Elías José Jaua Milano, Defence Minister Carlos José Mata Figueroa and Minister of Energy and Petroleum Rafael Darío Ramírez Carreño.

During the negotiations, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister and his Venezuelan colleague paid special attention to the issue of accelerating the repatriation of the Ukrainian citizens, crewmen of “B-Atlantic”, Volodymyr Ustymenko and Yurii Datchenko, currently held in penal jurisdictions of Venezuela. The Ministers expressed necessary legal procedures would be completed as soon as possible so that our citizens hope that could return to their homeland.