US President Donald Trump should hold a summit with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said on Wednesday in Geneva.
"We are calling for dialogue with the United States: Why not between presidents Maduro and Trump?" the chief diplomat said as the US leader was meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for nuclear talks in Vietnam.
"Why shouldn't they meet so that they could try to find common ground and explain their differences?," Arreaza added in his speech at the UN Human Rights Council.
More than 50 diplomats left the council chamber in protest when Arreaza took the podium.
They mainly included members of the Lima Group, consisting of South American countries and Canada, which no longer recognize Maduro as president. EU delegations agreed that only their junior diplomats would listen to the speech.
Despite Arreaza's summit proposal, he also lashed out at Washington for US sanctions against Venezuela, and for not ruling out a military option in response to the crisis in the South American country.
Maduro floated the idea of a summit already last September, but Trump has declined a meeting.
The US is meanwhile pushing for a vote on Venezuela this week in the UN Security Council, with a resolution that calls for the admission of humanitarian aid into Venezuela.
The Venezuelan opposition and the US are trying to persuade Venezuela's army to turn against Maduro and to let the supplies through at the borders.
Arreaza warned in Geneva that the aid is part of a covert US operation. His government is working with various UN agencies but refuses to accept aid by force, he added.
