Russia and Cuba sign agreements to promote cooperation
HAVANA, May 19th Russia and Cuba signed several agreements on Thursday to promote their strategic cooperation in areas such as phytosanitary control, customs service, construction, sugar production and sports.
During the XX session of the Intergovernmental Commission for economic-commercial and scientific-technical collaboration between the two countries, a protocol was signed between the Federal Customs Service of Russia and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment (Mincex).
The document, signed by the deputy head of the Russian Federal Customs Service, Vladimir Ivin, and the first deputy minister of Mincex, Ana Teresita González, refers to collaboration, exchange of information and mutual aid in the context of the single system of preferences for tariffs of the Eurasian Economic Union.
They also signed a memorandum on cooperation in the field of construction between the Cuban Vice Minister of Construction, Ricardo Carbajo Chelala, and the Russian Vice Minister of Construction, Housing and Communal Services, Nikita Stasishin.
A memorandum between the Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Control and the Ministry of Agriculture (Minag) will be related to cooperation in the field of plant quarantine.
Svetlana Alekseeva, deputy head of the aforementioned Russian federal service, and Ariel Castillo, director of Plant Health of the Minag, processed the aforementioned document, after concluding the plenary session of the aforementioned commission.
The adviser to the president of the Progress Agro group of companies, Alexander Bogatyr, and Julio Andrés García Pérez, president of the Azcuba Sugar Industry Business Group, signed a collaboration memorandum.
Likewise, a Sports Cooperation Action Plan was signed between the National Institute of Sport and Recreation (Inder) and the Russian Ministry of Sport.
Those summoned to stamp their signatures on the document were the Russian ambassador in this country, Viktor Koronelli, and Osvaldo Vento Montiller, president of Inder.
Finally, the Cuban Deputy Prime Minister and head of Mincex, Ricardo Cabrisas, and the Russian Deputy Head of Government, Dmitri Chernyshenko, signed the final act of the XX session of the Intergovernmental Commission.
The closing of the XI Meeting of the Russia-Cuba Business Committee is scheduled for this Friday, at the Hotel Nacional in the capital.
Russia and Cuba completed 10 investment projects
Russia and Cuba are working on 10 investment projects and seek to deepen mutually advantageous cooperation in the scientific-technical sphere, Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas said Thursday.
Speaking at the XX session of the Intergovernmental Commission for economic-commercial and scientific-technical collaboration, the also head of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment (Mincex) announced the visit to Russia of Prime Minister Manuel Marrero.
Cabrisas highlighted that Marrero will participate, next June, in the Council of the Eurasian Economic Union (UEE), to be held in the Russian city of Sochi.
In this regard, the Deputy Head of Government estimated that Cuba could become a bridge connecting Eurasia with Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Minister of Mincex indicated, in this context, that the upcoming Games of the Future will be held, with the participation of athletes from the Brics group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Community of Independent States.
Similarly, he thanked the maintenance of cooperation with Russia to guarantee energy and wheat supplies, as well as the efforts to reorder Cuba’s debt.
At the same time, he referred to specific projects for the rehabilitation of the José Martí Antillana de Acero metallurgical company and the recovery of the Cuban air fleet, with planes such as the Il-96 and the TU-204.
The Cuban vice minister mentioned the possibilities of increasing and diversifying exports to Russia, including those related to the sphere of health services, tourism and biotechnology.
For his part, the Deputy Prime Minister and co-chairman of the aforementioned commission on the Russian side, Dmitri Chernyshenko, affirmed that his country was waiting for the visit of the head of the Government of Cuba to the meeting of the Eurasian Economic Union, to be held from 7 to 9 Coming June in Sochi.
Chernyshenko referred to the supply to Cuba of energy, 25,000 tons of wheat and the donation of 4,500 lamps for public lighting in Havana.
The Russian Deputy Head of Government also mentioned the visit he is making this day to the Antillean Steel factory, where, after a rehabilitation process, he assured, some three thousand tons of steel should be produced per year.
Likewise, he indicated that Russia and Cuba are advancing in the process of mutual payments in national currencies, especially in rubles, and in the promotion of electronic commerce.
