Cuba received this Wednesday 25 thousand tons of wheat donated by the Government of Russia for food production in the country, which is suffering from a prolonged and serious economic crisis.
The Cuban Vice Minister of Foreign trade and Foreign Investment, Ana Teresita González, thanked the donation that arrived at the port of Havana, and that joins other shipments from the Eurasian nation in recent months.
Act of gratitude to the Russian government?? for the donation of 25,000 tons of wheat??? to #Cuba ??#CubaLiveYWork #Matanzas #GobMtz pic.twitter.com/xwXRJhN4g9
— Provincial Government of Popular Power in Matanzas (@gpppmatanzas) February 15, 2023
“This donation is a sample of the historical support of the Russian nation to the Cuban people in complex moments like the one our country is experiencing today,” González said in an act of gratitude at the port terminal, according to the Efe agency.
He added that the aid “reaffirms the ties of brotherhood and the mutual commitment to strengthen economic relations and cooperation.”
Ambassador Andrei Guskov stressed that Russia continues to “support the brotherly people of this heroic country in the extremely complex situation it is facing,” the information added.
“I am sure that this wheat, in addition to being a symbolic gesture, will be a support for many people in Cuba,” said the diplomat.
Guskov mentioned in receiving the charge that “the unprecedented intensification of the inhumane and criminal blockade (embargo) imposed by Washington” is one of the causes of the crisis.
“Another negative factor is the global, food and energy crisis, to a large extent caused by the unilateral and illegitimate sanctions of the West against Moscow,” he said, referring to the measures adopted by the international community in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine.
The highest representative of the Russian government in Cuba stressed that “despite everything, Russia and Cuba continue to develop their strategic relationship, based on the historical foundation of friendship, solidarity and mutual sympathy.”
In this sense, he advanced that “Russian companies will continue to participate in bilateral projects that contribute to compliance with the island’s national economic and social development plan until 2030.”
The donation of the wheat shipment had been announced by the Russian authorities at the end of last year, for which they allocated some 800 million rubles to the Emergencies Ministry. These would be used to purchase and transport the grain to the island.
Russian Government will donate 25 thousand tons of wheat to Cuba
During the last two years, Cuba has received various donations from Russia, the United States, Japan, Nicaragua and Vietnam, among other countries, from both governments and civil society groups.
The island is going through a crisis that in the last two years has been aggravated by the impact of the COVD-19 pandemic, the sanctions imposed by the US government and the little effect of the measures adopted by the Cuban government to overcome the problem.
The historic relations between Russia and Cuba continue to be highly significant and important for the island. They were relaunched during the visit that President Miguel Díaz-Canel made to Moscow in November 2022, where he was received by his counterpart Vladimir Putin.
At the end of last year, and through a telephone call, both presidents expressed their willingness to expand the strategic cooperation between the two nations and to comply with the agreements reached during the last meeting they held in the Russian capital.
Putin and Díaz-Canel willing to comply with the agreements reached in the Kremlin
Among the most relevant joint projects is the contribution of Russia to modernize Antillana Acero; investments in new technologies in the Boca de Jaruco oil field; the rehabilitation of the Santa Clara Mechanical Plant; and the Kamaz equipment diagnostic and maintenance center in the Mariel Special Zone.
Last January Díaz-Canel reiterated the “will” of the Cuban government to take political dialogue and bilateral economic and trade relations to “a higher moment”, during a meeting with a delegation of Russian businessmen who visited Havana.
Efe/OnCuba
