Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gives U.S. President Barack Obama a copy of "Las Venas Abiertas de America Latina" by author Eduardo Galiano during a meeting at the Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad April 18, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, April 18 (Xinhua) -- In a new effort to improve relations with Washington, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Saturday he has designated a candidate for the ambassador to the United States.

    "I've spoken to Roy Chanderton that I nominated him as a candidate for the ambassador to the United States," Chavez told reporters in Port of Spain, where he and other American leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, were gathering for the 5th Summit of the Americas.

    Chanderton had served as Venezuela's foreign minister, and currently is the country's ambassador to the Organization of American States.

    Earlier on Saturday, Chavez met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to discuss a possible normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

    The meeting was focused on the opportunity to exchange ambassadors between the two countries, Chavez told Venezuelan state television later.

    At the three-day Americas summit, the U.S.-Venezuela relations seemed to have been turning warm.

    On Friday evening, Chavez and Obama exchanged greetings and shook hands with smile before the inaugural session of the summit. "I want to be your friend," said Chavez in his first face-to-face meeting with Obama since the U.S. president took office in January.

    On Saturday morning, Chavez presented Obama a book titled "The Open Veins of Latin America" by Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano. Reports here said talks between the two leaders during the all-day summit were "relaxed and natural."

    The U.S.-Venezuela relations have been tense in recent years. In September 2008, Chavez ordered the expulsion of the U.S. ambassador, in solidarity with the Bolivian government's decision to expel the U.S. ambassador in La Paz.

    In retaliation, the Bush administration ordered the expulsion of the Venezuelan ambassador in Washington.