The Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment of Cuba, Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, said that President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s visit to Russia “was very useful and profitable”, and that it will contribute significantly to continue developing trade ties. friendship and cooperation with that country.
Malmierca mentioned “a group of projects that give an idea of how we are progressing, despite the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a series of obstacles to bilateral relations in recent years.”
From Ankara, Turkey, he alluded to projects such as the modernization of Antillana Acero; investment 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.
The minister referred to Heberprot P, a medicine developed by Cuban scientists, unique in the treatment of diabetic foot. Not only is it registered from a sanitary point of view by the Russian authority, he said, but the protocol for its use is also approved.
“We also evaluated,” he said, “the results of the XIX session of the intergovernmental commission for commercial, economic, and scientific-technical cooperation. This is a mechanism that meets periodically, where we coordinate everything related to the development of joint projects, thought of in the National Development Plan until 2030”.
And he added: “We are working on very important issues for Cuba, such as transportation, energy, and even banking and financial issues. We are working, and it should be a reality in a short time, so that the MIR cards, which are the ones used in the Russian Federation, can also be used in Cuban banking entities.
“That will favor tourism, as you know, the dynamic sector of our economy. We are very interested in attracting tourists to the Russian market and even attracting corporate tourism, that is, tourism from large companies that already have other businesses with Cuba and can also make this type of organized visit to our country.”
Regarding the investment of Russian capital in Cuba, he stressed: “We are very interested in attracting Russian companies to work in Cuba. We also talked about other economic interests, for example, importing food, importing a group of raw materials and products that can be used in Cuba to produce food, all of which is also vital for us and will significantly contribute to continuing to develop ties. of friendship and cooperation with the Russian Federation”.
