Havana/The Foreign Ministry and Turkey’s chancellors examined this Friday in Havana the prospects for “development and strengthening” of cooperation and reviewed the current state of their relationships, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the island. In the midst of prolonged blackouts and food shortage, the presence of Turkish companies in Cuba – from the floating electric power plants until the supply of flour for the production of bread – has become one of the more signs. visible to this relationship.
The meeting was headed by the general director of Bilateral Affairs of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Carlos Miguel Pereira, and by the Director General for the Americas and the Caribbean of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Yaprak Balkan. The meeting addressed issues of the bilateral, regional and international agenda and ratified the will to continue strengthening political dialogue and promoting “economic, commercial, financial and cooperation relations.”
Havana thanked Ankara’s traditional support to the UN resolution that asks for the end of the US embargo, whose vote is scheduled again for October. However, the background of bilateral relations is played today in the most urgent sectors for the population: energy and food.
Last March, both governments agreed a road map for bilateral economic-commercial cooperation between 2024 and 2026 that includes areas such as energy, commerce, investments, legal infrastructure, industry, technical cooperation, finance, transport, agriculture, health, culture, tourism and education. Although the document was announced in the official press as a strategic advance, the concretion of many of its points faces difficulties.
In August of this year he sailed from the Havana Bay
The most obvious example is energy cooperation. In recent years, the Cuban government has rented up to eight floating power plants to the Turkish company Karpowership, which came to represent about a third of the national generation. The so -called “Patanas” have worked as a palliative against the crisis of the National Electrical System (SEN), whose aged thermoelectric plants suffer continuous breakdowns.
But in recent months the relationship has been tensioned. In August of this year He sailed from Havana Bay the Suheyla Sultanone of the biggest patanas, due to non -payment. Today there are only two Turkish units in operation, which has left the Cubans before an even more severe blackout season. The lack of transparency in the contracts, the high costs of the lease and the scarcity of fuel to make them work limit their effectiveness and question the sustainability of this solution.
The cooperation agenda is not limited to electricity. Türkiye has become in recent months one of the main suppliers of wheat flour For the Cuban Molinera Industry and for the private sector. In Sancti Spíritus, for example, small businesses buy bags of 25 kilos of Turkish flour at prices that are around 9,000 to 10,000 pesos. The supply is unstable and depends on large importers or MSMEs with the ability to bring complete containers.
At the beginning of April, he docked in a Cuban port a ship loaded with flour from Türkiye, the first of three that the Government hoped to receive that month to supply state bakeries. The news was celebrated as a temporary relief in the midst of the crisis of regulated bread, although private producers warn that imports remain expensive and bureaucratic obstacles prevent fluid commercialization.
Many entrepreneurs report that importing flour directly for their business is almost impossible for state regulations
Turkish participation has also become visible in commercial events. In the most recent Food Fair In Havana, the company Asmali Consulting offered “high quality” flour to Cuban businessmen, consolidating Turkey’s presence as a strategic partner for MSMEs dedicated to the bakery and pastry.
The opening of new businesses in Havana also exhibits the growing penetration of Turkish products in the private retail market. Some mini -signs have begun to sell preserves and processed foods of that country. These products arrive at market shelves for “private account” or private premises that point to a public with greater purchasing power.
However, the enthusiasm for these economic ties coexists with obstacles. Many entrepreneurs report that importing flour directly for your business is almost impossible by state regulations. In some cases, when they have tried to bring containers collectively, the authorities have denied permission claiming that this would be equivalent to “reselling” inputs, a restricted practice.
The relationship between Havana and Ankara is thus found at a crucial point. While diplomacy celebrates the strengthening of cooperation, on the ground the reality is more complex. The exit of several patanas has increased the blackshop and prices of imported flour continue to press the costs of bread and pastry production.
If the political dialogue announced this Friday translates into more wheat ships, new energy solutions and greater opening for MSMEs, Turkey could become a first -order economic partner for Cuba. Otherwise, diplomatic enthusiasm will be reduced to statements while the blackout and bread scarcity continue to mark the day to day of the island.
