The opening of a helicopter flight training centre in Venezuela will allow Caracas to offer pilot training programs to other countries that operate Russian-made Mi-family helicopters, the Venezuelan Defence Ministry said.

"Venezuela will be the only country on the continent possessing these latest generation technologies in the field of aeronautics, which will allow us to offer training programs to other countries that operate Mi helicopters," the ministry said.

The center was built under the contract between Rosoboronexport and Venezuelan defense company CAVIM.

"This is part of the cooperation of equal strategic partners — Russia and Venezuela… There is no such center in any part of the world," Venezuelan Defense Minister Padrino Lopez said as quoted in the statement.

Russia opened on Friday the helicopter flight training center in Venezuela to assist Venezuelan pilots in learning how to fly Mi-family helicopters. The capabilities of this center allow Venezuelan pilots to undergo comprehensive training in flying the Mi-17V-5, Mi-35M and Mi-26T helicopters in close-to-reality conditions, according to Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport.

Earlier in March, a group of Russian military personnel arrived in Caracas to take part in consultations with country's officials on defence industry cooperation.