Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said in a New Year's interview that his country is willing to receive U.S. investment in its oil sector, coordinate in the fight against drug trafficking and hold serious talks with the United States.



"We must start to speak seriously, with the facts in hand," Maduro said in his annual interview with a Spanish journalist, originally published in Mexican newspaper La Jornada and broadcast on Venezuelan state television on New Year's Day.



"If they want to speak seriously about an agreement to battle drug trafficking, we are ready...If they want Venezuela’s oil, Venezuela is ready to accept U.S. investments like those of Chevron, when, where and how they want to make them."



The comments echo previous statements by Maduro about his willingness to dialogue with Donald Trump, even as the U.S. president has escalated

pressure on Maduro - including expanded sanctions, a ramped-up U.S. military presence in the region and more than two dozen strikes on vessels allegedly involved in trafficking drugs in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.