Carlos Miguel Pereira, general director of Bilateral Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) of Cuba, will become the first high-level official of the Cuban regime to visit South Korea to participate in an annual forum organized in Seoul and “focused on improving cooperation” between that country and Latin America.
The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported on Wednesday that the Cuban official will make a presentation at the Korea-Latin America Future Cooperation Forum 2024, scheduled for June 10 in Seoul, and in which The island’s authorities will seek investments from a country facing North Korea, one of Havana’s main allies.
“This is the first official visit by a high-level official of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” confirmed a Foreign Ministry official in Seoul during a closed-door briefing and on condition of anonymity, the South Korean newspaper reported in English Korea Herald.
The trip also marks the first visit of a delegation from the Cuban regime to South Korea since Seoul and Havana officially established diplomatic relations on February 14 of this yearadded the official.
Pereira will make his presentation during the third session of the forum, which will focus on discussing strategies for job creation by improving cooperation adapted to future industries and their expansion in related areas, such as vocational training, the media reported.
Another South Korean official, who also did not reveal his identity, said that “(the Cuban official’s) attendance was organized to discuss possible avenues for bilateral cooperation and collaboration in development projects related to Latin America.”
“The first visit of the Cuban Government delegation since the establishment of bilateral relations on February 14 has great significance, since it will contribute to further solidifying bilateral ties,” the official remarked.
When asked about the possibility of separate meetings between the Cuban diplomat and South Korean officials, the source mentioned that Seoul and Havana are currently “in the coordination phase”but refrained from sharing more details.
On the topic of how Seoul and Havana can pursue economic cooperation within the framework of US sanctions, the first unnamed official emphasized the importance of “exploring long-term perspectives.”
“Given the many restrictive conditions, I think both countries should consider how they can cooperate within these limitations,” the first official said, adding that “Cuba has a significant interest in economic cooperation” with South Korea.
In addition to Cuba, ministers and vice ministers from five Latin American countries – Chile, Dominica, Guatemala, Honduras and Peru – will also attend the June 10 forum, which the South Korean Foreign Ministry has organized annually since 2008.
Pereira’s visit to South Korea occurs while Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez visits China as special envoy of Miguel Díaz-Canel. In Beijing, the official met with the president of the Chinese Cooperation Agency to seek investments on the Island.
Also the Cuban deputy prime minister, Ricardo Cabrisas, visits Moscow this week for the second time in less than three months and with the intention of reaching economic agreements.
Cuba is experiencing a worsening of its worst economic crisis in decades, to which is added the worsening of electricity generation, which generates chronic blackouts, which in the first half of March and all of May lasted more than 20 hours in some localities.
Havana, which no longer has benefactors, is seeking to do business with its few allies and even with countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and mechanisms such as the Eurasian Economic Union. But the flow of dollars resists reaching their coffers.
