CARACAS: The second round of US-backed negotiations between Venezuela's interim government and opposition members has concluded with an agreement to work on reforming the South American country's top court.
The deal announced Friday marked the first concrete step in broader judicial reform long sought by the opposition and promised by interim leader Delcy Rodriguez.
In the first round of talks, which concluded in August, the parties agreed in principle to overhaul Venezuela's justice system and recover frozen Venezuelan assets from the Bank of England.
During this week's talks, the two sides appointed a seven-member committee to review the system for choosing candidates for the Supreme Court of Justice, according to a joint statement released Friday.
The parties also agreed to "continue the analysis and review of legislative instruments needed for the transformation of the judicial system," said the statement.
A third round of talks is scheduled for October.
The government was led by National Assembly chief Jorge Rodriguez, the brother of the country's interim leader. Delcy Rodriguez has governed under pressure from Washington since US forces seized president Nicolas Maduro in a January raid.
The opposition was represented by Dinorah Figuera, who led the opposition bloc that won a majority in Venezuela's last internationally recognized elections in 2015.
Exiled opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado has been excluded from the talks, though she has said she will not interfere and hopes to see concrete results.