Caracas - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez congratulated US president-elect Barack Obama Wednesday on his "historic" win and said the time had come for the two countries to establish new relations.

Chavez emphasized Caracas' will to "build, on the basis of absolute respect for sovereignty, a constructive bilateral agenda for the welfare of the Venezuelan and the US people," according to a statement issued by the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry.

"The historic election of an African American to lead the most powerful nation in the world is symptomatic of a changing era that has been conceived in South America and could be knocking on the doors of the United States," he said.

There is a global demand for a change in international relations and the construction "of a world of equilibrium, peace and human coexistence."

Under US President George W Bush, relations between Caracas and Washington have steadily deteriorated, and both nations currently have no ambassadors in each other's territory. (dpa)