Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Massimo D'Alema next Friday is paying a flash visit to Venezuela, a country with which Roma intends to reactivate political and economic relations, sources with the Italian Foreign Ministry Wednesday told AFP.

D'Alema -who is staying in Caracas only one day- is to talk to "senior officials," but the sources would not said whether he is meeting with President Hugo Chávez, AFP added.

D'Alema is also scheduled to meet representatives of the Italian community in Venezuela, which is one of the largest in South America, with more than 1 million Italian natives and 150,000 people with Italian citizenship and right to vote in the upcoming April 13-14 legislative vote.

His visit comes nine days after Venezuelan oil state-run oil giant Pdvsa and Italian oil company Eni initialed an agreement for compensation to the later following nationalization by Venezuela of its stake in a heavy-crude oil project.

Some Eni officials are also to visit Venezuela, the Italian firm's press office said.