Venezuela and the United States last Friday held their first cabinet-level meeting on energy cooperation since 2004, pledging to restart the exchange of technical information that was suspended during the administration of former President George W. Bush.

“We understood that [the previous] administration didn’t want to continue speaking with us,” Venezuelan Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramírez told reporters in Washington ahead of a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and State Department officials. In a press conference, Chu said he was “grateful” Ramírez had accepted his invitation to attend last week’s summit of Western Hemisphere energy ministers, calling it “a step forward.”

During the bilateral meeting, the two officials agreed to restart dialogue on “technical energy issues” and also discussed Venezuelan contributions to the recovery effort in Haiti and the need for countries around the world to aggressively promote clean energy, the U.S. Department of Energy said in a statement.

Venezuela remains a top supplier of oil to the United States despite often frayed relations between the two countries, which reached a low point in 2008 when Caracas withdrew its ambassador from Washington. Although full diplomatic relations were restored soon after U.S. President Barack Obama took office the following year, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has continued to be a strong critic of U.S. policy in Latin America. “While the U.S. and Venezuela certainly don’t agree on all issues, Secretary Chu and the administration believe that dialogue on energy and climate issues is important for our two countries,” the Energy Department said.

Ramírez said he viewed his visit as an opportunity to address what he called the “profound disinformation” in the United States about the political and economic situation in Venezuela and to share his country’s experience in fostering energy partnerships in the Caribbean and South America. “We don’t intend to sign any alliance … just to inform on what the South has done, what the Caribbean has done,” Ramirez said, citing Venezuela’s Petrocaribe program, which provides low-cost oil to Caribbean countries on generous credit terms.

He also pledged to continue Venezuelan oil exports to the United Statesd despite recent annual declines, which he said were due to production cuts. “Venezuela is always ready to supply more oil to the U.S.,” Ramírez said, while acknowledging that state oil company PDVSA is aiming to diversify its export market to include China and Japan.

Ramírez added that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, of which Venezuela is a founding member, would like to see oil prices stay between $70 and $100 per barrel, although he said in the past some price increases had been due to financial speculation and not “market fundamentals.” The average price for the Venezuelan crude oil basket was $75.43 on April 16.