CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuela and the Dominican Republic agreed Sunday to work toward restoring relations severed two years ago when the latter joined an international chorus of complaints that Nicolas Maduro’s claimed presidential reelection was fraudulent.

The two countries have now agreed on a road map for talks on “gradual normalisation” of their diplomatic ties, the Venezuelan foreign ministry said in a statement.

Maduro, a leftist criticised as a harsh autocrat who oversaw the collapse of oil-rich Venezuela’s economy, was toppled and arrested by US forces in early January and whisked off to New York with his wife for trial on drug trafficking charges.