Cuba and the Eurasian Economic Union have a promising future of cooperation. Photo: @PresidenciaCuba
By María Josefina Arce
Concrete proposals to increase cooperation, in the face of an increasingly unfair international economic order and the adoption of coercive measures, brought Cuba to the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, made up of the heads of state and government of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan as members, and Moldova and Uzbekistan as observers.
"Health and biotechnology are areas with great potential in this sense," said Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel, in his third intervention before that organization since the largest Antillean island was declared Observer State last December.
In fact, there is already bilateral collaboration between Cuba and the member nations of the Eurasian Economic Union, which has a population of nearly 200 million people.
Flagship biotechnology products are present in these countries. That is the case of Heberprot-P for diabetic foot ulcers, which benefits patients with that ailment in Russia and Belarus.
This drug, registered in 26 countries, was included in 2015 in the list of essential and vital medicines by the special commission of the Russian Ministry of Health.
These first steps, said the Cuban president, fill us with confidence in the possibility of establishing strategic alliances. Alliances that will undoubtedly result in improving the health and quality of life of our citizens.
But there are multiple business options for Cuba with these countries, to which we are united by historic ties of friendship. Energy and tourism, as Díaz Canel mentioned, have great potential.
Collaboration in the field of renewable energies, with the creation of wind farms and solar plants, can be very profitable.
And as for tourism, Cuba is a destination that offers much more than beautiful beaches like Varadero, in the province of Matanzas. Customs and traditions that blend our African and Spanish roots are always a great attraction for foreign visitors.
The hospitality of Cubans and the tranquility of its streets, together with the development of ecological and health tourism is also an incentive for those who come to Cuban soil.
Excellent has been in this sector the cooperation with Russia, which since 2017 has registered an upward trend in the number of tourists of that nationality arriving on Cuban soil and has now become the main issuer.
Cuba and the Eurasian Economic Union have a promising future of cooperation, based on the common interest of working for their citizens and mutual trust, which shows the election of the Caribbean nation to host next November the meeting of the Eurasian Economic Commission.
