The Cuban authorities, who in recent weeks have put their new food safety law under the spotlight, aspire to have Argentina as a partner in strengthening the agri-food industry and food production.
Miguel Díaz-Canel held a meeting this Thursday with the deputy chief of staff of the Government of Argentina, Jorge Neme, who is visiting Havana, according to the Cuban president, to “strengthen bilateral relations,” specifically in that area.
The Argentine deputy chief of staff, for his part, said that his country “will export knowledge and experience in Cuba’s agri-food value chain, transferring technology and exporting agricultural machinery and services.”
The Argentine deputy chief of staff, for his part, said that his country “will export knowledge and experience in Cuba’s agri-food value chain, transferring technology and exporting agricultural machinery and services.”
Neme added on Twitter that on this visit he has met with senior officials of the Cuban government, such as the deputy prime minister, Ricardo Cabrisas, and the head of the Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment portfolio, Rodrigo Malmierca.
With Cabrisas, he made “a positive diagnosis of the bilateral economic relationship” and of the “potential” of both countries to “increase cooperation and business in agricultural matters,” Neme wrote.
In their meeting with Malmierca they reviewed “the cooperation project in agricultural matters that will open a horizon of opportunities for the development of bilateral economic relations.”
“We are going to contribute to the food security of the Cuban people,” he added.
Last January, the foreign ministers of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez, and of Argentina, Santiago Cafiero, signed in Buenos Aires a cooperation agreement for agricultural development within the framework of the XXII Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Community of States Latin American and Caribbean (CELAC).
A statement from the Argentine Foreign Ministry explained that the objective of this agreement was “to promote Cuba’s food sovereignty by increasing its agri-food production capacity.”
On his previous trip to Cuba –in August 2021– Neme, then Secretary of International Economic Relations of the Foreign Ministry, in addition to several meetings, visited companies dedicated to agricultural activity with a group of Argentine businessmen.
“We have an excess of personnel behind a Bureau hindering and slowing down the work of those who do know and can produce. I have already seen several news similar to this and in the end the table of ordinary Cubans does not improve”
Neme assured then that Argentina was going to accompany Cuba “in its import substitution process, based on the strengthening of local capacities and the revitalization of value chains.”
Then alternatives were evaluated to develop technical cooperation projects and business models in various agricultural areas in Cuba that have great potential for grain cultivation, as well as for livestock, poultry and goat industries, dairy and tropical fruit production. .
In Cubadebate, where the information was published through Prensa Latina, the news has received a devastating comment. “Argentina has a lot to offer us, mainly in grains. Now, on our side we have excess personnel behind a Bureau hindering and slowing down the work of those who do know and can produce. I have already seen several news items similar to this one and in the end the table of the ordinary Cuban does not improve”.
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