The business forum between Cuba and Russiawhich was held these days in Havana, concluded its activities this Friday with the signing of several bilateral agreements.
The closing ceremony of the forum, which took place at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, was chaired by President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Vice President of the Russian Government, Dimitri Chernishenko, together with other authorities from the two countries, and eight agreements in different spheres.
The minutes of the XI session of the Joint Business Committee, a memorandum of the Macroeconomics Working Group, another on the development of Artificial Intelligence and a contract for the supply of Russian wheat to the island, were among the documents signed by representatives of both countries.
Similarly, agreements were signed for the development of the Rusmarket mixed company —which will be dedicated to the sale of Russian products in Cuba—, for the constitution of an international Economic Association in the Tarará area, for a commercial project in the Santo Ángel property in Old Havana, as well as a letter of intent for the development of a mixed rum company between both countries.
Previously, sports authorities from both nations had signed a cooperation agreement in this area, which will be in force until 2025, As reported the digital site Hit.
This Thursday, during the XX Session of the Cuba-Russia Intergovernmental Commission, other agreements had also been reached to promote economic and commercial ties between the two countries, in tune with the current state of political relations between Havana and Moscow.
In this direction, the Cuban authorities announced the granting of “facilities” to Russian businessmen to encourage their presence on the island and “substantially” increase Russian investments and trade, which in 2022 only reached 451 million dollars. Dollars.
Cuba paves the way for Russian companies at the Economic-Business Forum
Cuban Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Ricardo Cabrisas, confirmed the intention of increasing Russia’s presence in Cuba’s 2030 economic and social development plan, and, at the same time, increasing Cuban exports to the Eurasian nation.
In this sense, he considered the forum, in which some 150 businessmen from Cuba and Russia participated, as a “milestone” in bilateral relations, and specified that during it potentialities were identified for the development of new projects in sectors such as transportation , agribusiness, construction, energy and tourism.
For his part, Chernishenko, who during his visit to Havana met with President Díaz-Canel, referred to the creation of a banking infrastructure that facilitates commercial exchange and the Russian business presence in Cuba, and to Moscow’s help to the modernization of the aging Cuban sugar mills.
Cuba and Russia have been experiencing a growing rapprochement for several years and the governments of both countries have defined this relationship as “strategic.”
As part of it, agreements have been signed in different spheres and numerous visits, both working and high-level, have been carried out, including those of the Cuban president to Moscow and that of senior Russian officials, such as Chernishenko and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, to Havana.
