US Under Secretary of State Tuesday once again invited Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to talk to the United States about cooperation in "specific areas" of their bilateral relations, particularly anti-drug efforts.

Chávez has rejected this invitation in the past. Regarding the fight against drug traffic, the Venezuelan ruler replied by discontinuing Venezuela-DEA cooperation program.

"Our relations with Venezuela have gone through a hard period," he said. "However, we have sent signal for opening up such relations. We aim at opening to focus on specific areas in which we believe our relations may improve."

Shannon stated one of the "highly important" fields he would like to improve was the battle against drug traffic, which should be waged as "multinational war, rather than on a country-by-country basis," AP reported.

In this context, he said, at the end of 2007 President George W. Bush proposed the Merida Initiative - USD 1.4 billion program for Mexico and seven Central American countries intended to complement the regional efforts under way in Colombia and the Caribbean.

"Unfortunately, we do not have any strategic plan with Venezuela." "We would like to have it."