Just over a year ago, Venezuela’s then minister for Europe, Rodrigo Chaves, visited Scotland and suggested to me that it would be appropriate to have a stronger direct link between our two nations.

The price of road fuel is again becoming one of the hottest political topics in the land. Just having paid £88 to fill my car with diesel, I share in the sense of aggravation.

Back in 2002, when I was UK energy minister, I attended a producer-consumer dialogue in Osaka hosted by the International Energy Agency.