The United States on Monday welcomed Venezuela's move to restore full diplomatic relations between the two countries by returning its ambassador to Washington. “We think it's a positive idea,” State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters. At last weekend's Summit of the Americas held in Trinidad, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez expressed his desire to return his country's ambassador. In September, Chavez expelled the top U.S. envoy in Caracas, prompting retaliation from Washington. Chavez—who met President Barack Obama for the first time at the summit—said he hoped to start a “new era” in relations between the two countries. “Dialogue is what we believe is important. We will see how things go with regard to President Chavez' suggestion that we exchange ambassadors,” Wood said. Meanwhile, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs on Monday welcomed progress toward normalizing bilateral relations. “Look at what we got just simply out of this weekend. Two years ago, Hugo Chavez … wanted nothing to do with being a responsible part of a community of nations. Now engaging in the world, the Venezuelans have … put names forward to put an ambassador back in place here,” Gibbs told reporters.
