Premier Li Keqiang told Maduro, who is on a four-day trip to China to discuss economic agreements, that Beijing is willing to provide the crisis-hit country with what help it can, according to Chinese government statements on Friday.
China made no mention of new funds for Venezuela's struggling government on Friday after President Nicolas Maduro visited his key foreign financier in hopes of securing new loans.
Premier Li Keqiang told Maduro, who is on a four-day trip to China to discuss economic agreements, that Beijing is willing to provide the crisis-hit country with what help it can, according to Chinese government statements on Friday.
But there was no reference in Chinese state media or in Chinese government statements to China agreeing to provide new funds for Venezuela, which is struggling with a fifth year of recession and an economy wracked by hyperinflation.
Maduro said on Thursday he was going to China with "great expectations" and promised to return with "big achievements."
Li told Maduro that China supported Venezuela's efforts to develop its economy and improve people's livelihoods. It was also willing to keep developing business and trade exchanges, and hoped that Venezuela could provide more "policy support and legal guarantees."
Venezuela's Information Ministry said on Friday it had signed 28 agreements with China to develop oil fields, gold mining and telecommunications. It was not clear whether the agreements were all new.
The agreements included $184 million in financing for the joint oil venture Petrozumano and the transfer of 9.9 percent of the Petrolera Sinovensa oil project to China, the ministry said in a statement.
Over a decade, China ploughed more than $50 billion into Venezuela through oil-for-loan agreements that helped China secure energy supplies for its fast-growing economy while bolstering an anti-U.S. ally in Latin America.
The flow of cash halted nearly three years ago, however, when Venezuela asked for a change of payment terms amid falling oil prices and declining crude output that pushed its state-led economy into a hyperinflationary collapse.
Venezuela's finance ministry in July said it would receive $250 million from the China Development Bank to boost oil production but offered no details.
Venezuela previously accepted a $5 billion loan from China for its oil sector but has yet to receive the entire amount.
In a separate meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping Maduro said Venezuela was willing to "explore effective financing methods" with China and strengthen cooperation with China in the energy sector, Chinese state media said, citing Maduro, without elaborating.
Xi told Maduro China would, as before, support the Venezuelan government's efforts to seek stability and development.
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