Rodrigo Malmierca praises the Cuban president's visit to Russia

Ankara, Nov 23 (RHC) Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Minister Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz said that the visit of President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez "was very useful and profitable" and will contribute significantly to further developing ties of friendship and cooperation with the Russian Federation.

In statements to the press accompanying the Cuban delegation on the tour of Algeria, Russia, Turkey, and China, the Cuban minister mentioned "a group of projects that give an idea of how we are moving forward, even though the Covid-19 pandemic has introduced a series of obstacles in recent years to bilateral relations".

Malmierca Díaz pointed out the modernization of Antillana Acero, whose electric steel plant should be completed soon; the increase of efficiency with the use of new technologies in the Boca de Jaruco oil field; the rehabilitation of the Santa Clara Mechanical Plant; and the operation of a diagnostic and maintenance center for Kamaz equipment in the Mariel Special Zone.

In his remarks upon his arrival in the city of Ankara, Turkey, the third stop of the Cuban President's international tour, the head of Foreign Trade and Investment on the island also referred to Heberprot P, a drug developed by Cuban scientists and unique in the treatment of the diabetic foot ulcers. Not only is it registered from the sanitary point of view by the Russian authority, but also the protocol for its use has been approved.

Likewise, he said, we have the plan of one hundred study scholarships, a program that is reinstated and is very important because it is designed for Cuba.

We also evaluated 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, as part of the National Development Plan until 2030.

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 used in the Russian Federation, can be also used in Cuban entities. This will favor tourism and, as you know, it is the dynamic sector of our economy. We are very interested in attracting tourists to the Russian market and even in attracting corporate tourism, that is, tourism of large companies that already have other businesses with Cuba and can also make this type of visit, let's say, organized visits to our country.

A topic that was discussed a lot was the investment of Russian capital in Cuba. We are very interested in attracting Russian companies to work in Cuba. We also talked about other economic interests, for example in food imports, in the import of a group of raw materials and products that can be used in Cuba to produce food, all this is also vital for us. We are also interested in contributing in a significant way to continue developing the ties of friendship and cooperation with the Russian Federation. (Taken from the site of the Presidency).