Havana, July 20 (RHC)-- Cuba's Unión Eléctrica, UNE, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Siemens with the intention to modernize the energy infrastructure of the country.

In the presence of Rubén Cid, Deputy Minister of Energy and Mining of Cuba, Livan Arronte Cruz, General Director of UNE, and Willi Meixner, CEO of Siemens Power and Gas Division, the partners agreed in Havana on discussing projects in the field of power generation, transmission and distribution.

According to reports, the MoU also includes the opportunity for German-owned Siemens to supply power generating technology to existing and future power plant projects in Cuba.

Under the terms of the agreement, Siemens and UNE will agree on the development of projects and services within the power generation, transmission and distribution, renewable energy and automation sectors which involve UNE and any of their affiliates or subsidiaries.  During the past months, both companies have been evaluating the current system and developed a country energy concept including recommendations on the development and optimization of Cuba's power generation infrastructure and mix.

The MoU also builds a closer and better technical cooperation between Germany and Cuba in energy related matters.  Both parties also agreed to foster knowledge transfer initiatives to share examples of success stories in different parts of the world and technical training.  In this sense, Siemens has already started training activities for UNE personnel in Cuba and the future program will include also trainings in Germany, Mexico and other parts of the world.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines has set the goal to modernize the electricity system in order to provide a reliable, cost-efficient energy and introduce renewable energy generation supply for the more than 11 million Cuban people.

Siemens AG has been actively engaged in the past years supporting Cuba's development of its national healthcare system providing the island with the most advanced solutions in the fields of angiography, magnetic resonance and other different imaging areas.