The Cuban deputy prime minister, Ricardo Cabrisastraveled again to Russia to look for investmentsjust two months after making a similar visit and few weeks after leave his position as minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment.
The veteran negotiator of Havana’s debts with the Paris Club and other creditors was received on Monday by the vice president of the Federation Council, Konstantin Kosachevreported the official site of that authority.
According to that report, “The main topic of the conversation was bilateral relations and the expansion of cooperation.”
Kosachev indicated that during Miguel Díaz-Canel’s visit to Russia to attend the Victory Parade in Moscow, on May 9, he and Vladimir Putin held meetings and negotiations that They reaffirmed “the willingness of Moscow and Havana to build and strengthen relations in the widest range of areas.”
“On the parliamentary line, they are very prepared to cooperate in compliance with the agreements of the leaders of the two countries, supporting our Cuban friends within the framework of our parliamentary powers,” Kosachev said, although the official note did not specify what agreements referred to.
He only pointed out that There is “work underway to attract Russian investors to the development of promising niches in the Cuban market”a purpose that Havana and Moscow have mentioned since in 2022, following the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, both regimes strengthened their alliance, but which has not seen the expected disbursement of sums from Russian businessmen on the Island.
Kosachev also expressed his hope that Cuban representatives will actively participate in the work of the Fourth Eurasian Economic Forum, as well as in the so-called Women’s Forum, scheduled to be held in Saint Petersburg from September 18 to 20, 2024. He also mentioned upcoming events. international sporting and cultural events that the Kremlin organizes to try to combat its international isolation.
Of the entire meeting, The note from the Federation Council only mentioned the opening of a branch of the Russian Museum in Havana as a project about to materialize.
Mas assured that both officials addressed in detail issues of economy, tourism, culture and humanitarian assistance, including the training of Cubans in Russian higher education institutions.
During Cabrisas’ visit to Moscow last March, when he was accompanied by Juan Carlos García Granda, Minister of Tourism of Cuba, the latter assured that Havana expects to receive more than 200,000 Russian tourists in 2024.
Cabrisas met on that occasion with the president of the Russian Federation Council, Valentina Matvienkoon the occasion of the XXI Session of the Cuban-Russian Intergovernmental Commission for Economic-Commercial and Scientific-Technical Collaboration.
According to the official media Cubadebatewhen exchanging on the main sectors of interest in bilateral ties, Cabrisas and Matvienko agreed that there are concrete results in several areas, including the medical-pharmaceutical industry.with several contracts recently signed, and tourism, in which “significant growth has been recorded in the number of Russian visitors traveling to Cuba and the prospects are encouraging.”
They highlighted the signing in 2023 of several documents that serve as the basis for the decision of achieve “effective participation of Russia in the National Economic and Social Development Plan of Cuba until 2030.”
“There are potentials to be exploited and they referred to possible Russian investments in Cuba in sectors such as the sugar agroindustry, the development of renewable sources and tourism,” the media added.
Moscow announced a loan to Havana for the purchase of wheat, oil and fertilizers in Russia in the same week that Putin approved the modification of the credit agreements with the Island, which grants the Cuban regime better conditions for the payment of a millionaire debt, as well as its restructuring.
However, more than a year after Miguel Díaz-Canel announced that Cuba would adopt the Russian model for its economy, everything has remained in the announcement. In practice, nothing serious and tangible has come to fruition so far, as economist Emilio Morales pointed out in an article in DIARIO DE CUBA.
“The expectations created by the regime that Russia would come to the financial rescue have been nothing more than a great disappointment for the Cuban regime itself. Those who thought that Russian aid was going to arrive immediately and that it would mean a saving financial relief, have had no choice but to keep their expectations in the closet and put their feet on the ground to understand that the system is neither salvageable nor by the Russians,” he considered.
