teleSur
This Wednesday in Havana, the Cuba-Russia Business Economic Forum was inaugurated by businessmen from both countries in search of revitalizing commercial exchange.
The president of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce, Antonio Carricarte, highlighted at the opening of the forum the willingness of Russian businessmen to actively participate in the main sectors of the Cuban economy, not only as suppliers of finished products or raw materials, but also as partners in the productive chains.
“The Cuban economy must recover and consolidate and every project we promote is a contribution, so we must work systematically, creatively, proposing and seeking solutions to the obstacles that arise,” said Carricarte.
For his part, Russia’s trade representative in Cuba, Serguei Baldin, said that in 2022 the bilateral exchange stood at 451 million dollars, after Russian exports tripled, mainly with crude oil.
He detailed that Cuban sales to Moscow, which include agricultural products, rums, coffee and cigars, decreased twice and barely reached seven million dollars.
‼️ Participamos en el Foro Económico Empresarial Cuba-Rusia junto a varias de las empresas que conforman nuestra OSDE.
�������� Excelente oportunidad. Se trabaja para concertar negocios de beneficio para ambas partes.#IndustriasCuba pic.twitter.com/9OmkTdFGop
— Gelect (@GelectCuba)
May 17, 2023
We participated in the Cuba-Russia Business Economic Forum together with several of the companies that make up our OSDE. Excellent opportunity. We are working to arrange mutually beneficial business deals.
Baldin demanded reversing that imbalance with the use, among others, of institutional mechanisms such as the 16 working groups incorporated to the Russia-Cuba Business Committee and the nine sectoral groups of businessmen.
Cuba’s deputy prime minister and minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Ricardo Cabrisas told the press that Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s visit to Moscow in November last year marked the beginning of what he described as “a new dynamic” between the two countries.
According to Cabrisas, the two countries seek to raise the level of investments on the island to the same level of bilateral political relations.
The business forum, attended by half a hundred Russian and more than 100 Cuban companies, is part of the sessions of the bilateral Intergovernmental Commission for economic-commercial and scientific-technical collaboration, which will operate tomorrow in Havana, with the presence of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko.
