Port of Spain  - President Hugo Chavez on Saturday said he was considering restoring Venezuela's diplomatic ties with the United States, in light of the change in policy under new US President Barack Obama.

"We are considering it with great attention and I think there could soon start to be work meetings," Chavez said on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.

He said there had already been some exchanges with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Diplomatic ties between Venezuela and the United States were suspended in September 2008, when the US ambassador in Venezuela was expelled. The decision was made in "solidarity" with a similar move by the Bolivian government because of an alleged US conspiracy against Bolivian President Evo Morales.

Caracas withdrew its ambassador from Washington before he was expelled by US authorities.

"It is possible that we ourselves start to evaluate the designation of our ambassador in the United States. We want to walk in that direction," Chavez said. "We take Obama's word, despite the differences that we, of course, have."

He also said that Venezuela and its left-goverened allies Bolivia, Nicaragua, Dominica and Honduras were not planning to sign the final declaration of the Summit of the Americas in protest at Cuba's exclusion from the meeting.

Cuba was suspended from the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1962, at Washington's behest. (dpa)