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Indian and Venezuelan businessmen have started looking at each other country for business partnership only in the last few years. Venezuelan market, the richest in this region, offers very good scope for India's exports. The information given below is to fill up the knowledge gap of Indian business about Venezuela.
The Embassy would be pleased to give more information and assist our exporters in realizing the potential for our exports. We welcome the exporters and Export Promotion Councils to visit Venezuela, participate in the Trade fairs and hold promotional events here.
The Embassy welcomes Indian Business visitors to make use of the Business Centre in the embassy. This has meeting, multimedia projection, computer, internet, phione and fax facilities. Our staff will be happy to receive and assist visitors.
The Embassy gives the highest priority to export promotion.
INFORMATION FOR BUSINESS VISITORS
Important - Venezuelan Exchange Control Restrictions from 6 February 2003 - Click Here
Additional information on exchange control restrictions regarding Imports - Click Here
Importance of Visit
It would be desirable for exporters to visit Venezuela and meet the importers personally. The Venezuelans attach importance to personal contacts. They would be wary of placing order from an unknown company from India, based merely on correspondence. In any case, many Venezuelan importers do not respond to correspondence. However, they take the visiting Indian exporters more seriously. The visitors should keep at least five working days. Flying visit for just one or two days is not enough. Most of the Venezuelan importers need to be met twice or thrice for concluding business.
Contact the Embassy before the visit
The visitors will find it worthwhile to contact the Embassy a few weeks before the visit. They should give a comprehensive profile of their companies and details of the products to enable the Embassy to identify the importers. The Embassy would give information and list of importers. Based on this, the exporters can establish preliminary contacts with the importers in Venezuela. Once the dates are confirmed, the Embassy can even fix up meetings for the exporters before their arrival in Caracas. We hope you will not cancel the visit at the last minute and cause embarrassment for us. We would seek the cooperation of the visitors in maintaining the credibility and reputation of the Embassy. We can also help in tying up interpreters and hotels.
Business Visa
Visitors to Venezuela should have a visa. For this purpose you may kindly contact the Venezuelan Embassy in New Delhi at the following address:
Embassy of Venezuela in New Delhi
E-106 Malcha Marg.
Chanakyapuri - New Delhi - 110021
Tel: ++91-11-51680218, 51680219, 26886913
Fax: ++91-11-51750743, 26871686
Email embavene@del2.vsnl.net.in
Following are the normal requirements for obtaining a Venezuelan visa:
- Company letter
- Bank Statement
- Copy of E-tickets
- Sponsorship letter
Employment Visa
The procedure for Employment Visa, as laid out by the Ministry of Employment, is given below.
Interested Companies or persons may contact this Embassy for clarification and assistance:
Mr. R.K. Jha,
1st Secretary
E-mail:
hoc.caracas@mea.gov.in
Requirements for Employment Visa >>Click here
MDA Assistance
As part of the Focus LAC programme, the Commerce Ministry gives Market Development Assistance to exporters (through export promotion councils) for visiting Latin American and Caribbean countries. The exporters might like to explore this possibility
Vaccination
Since Venezuela is in the Yellow Fever zone, vaccination should be taken ten days before starting the trip in India . Without the Yellow Fever Certificate, the travelers on return to India might face quarantine.
Air links
From India , the best way to reach Venezuela is through European cities such as Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam. All the major European airlines fly to Caracas . There are about 15 flights between Caracas and Miami (2 hours). There are daily connections to New York , Dallas and Atlanta , with United, Continental and American Airlines.
There are also flights to Miami from Valencia and Maracaibo .
Venezuelan international airlines, Conviasa and Aeropostal, fly to Europe and Miami .
Caracas is well connected to the other major cities in Latin America .
Aeropostal is the biggest airline of Venezuela . The others are Conviasa, Avensa, Avior, Aserca, Laser and Santa Barbara . The national (Maquetia) and international (Simon Bolivar) terminals are within five minutes of walk within the same airport complex.
Visit to Other Countries in the region
Coming all the way from India, our exporters would find it worthwhile to combine other countries in the region while visiting Venezuela. There are good airlinks to Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil etc. Through Miami also, there are connections to the other South
American Countries. The contacts of the Indian Embassies in Latin America and their home pages are given in the following link
The Embassies would be happy to receive our exporters and provide them info and support. It is advisable to contact everyone in advance before the visit.
Visas for the other countries should be taken in Delhi itself. It is very time- consuming and difficult to get visas for other countries in Venezuela.
~ Venezuelan Trade and Industry Associations