HAVANA, October 31. /TASS/. Russia and Cuba agreed on a wide range of areas for partnership following the session of the Russian-Cuban trade and scientific cooperation on Tuesday, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said.
"A vast program for future cooperation has been outlined. All projects that we had discussed have a long-term strategic nature and will define the future of the Cuban economy for decades - cooperation in the spheres of energy, industry, healthcare and agriculture. More preconditions were created to ensure the growth of trade and its diversity in the next few years," Borisov said at the closing ceremony of the commission’s 16th meeting.
He said the sides also agreed on the construction of power generation facilities in Cuba, as well as on modernization of production facilities and railway infrastructure with the use of Russian technologies.
The Russian deputy premier added that the policy of sanctions by third states, which affect Russia and Cuba, can play a positive role in strengthening bilateral ties.
"We are used to living under the pressure of sanctions, our nations cannot be scared by that. The sanctions have a reverse side as well, which opens possibilities for filling the market with own products. And now we have taken the path of export, which includes the export of Russian technologies to Latin American countries," Borisov said.
Final document
The signing of the commission’s final act may take place during Cuban leader Miguel Diaz-Canel’s visit to Moscow this week, the commission’s co-chairman Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz said.
"The signing of the final act on the commission’s work will be held later, because experts still continue working on the document. It is quite possible that it will be signed during our leader’s stay in Moscow," the Cuban official said. "The commission’s meeting, on one hand, sums up the results of the enormous work that has been done, and on the other serves as a starting point for further work on cooperation projects."
Although the final version of the document is yet to be prepared, participants of the talks have already signed a number of agreements on cooperation and partnership in various spheres. For example, the RM Rail company signed a 50-million-euro deal with Cuban company TRADEX on the delivery of 837 rail freight cars in 2019-2021.
The 16th session of the Russian-Cuban intergovernmental commission on trade and scientific cooperation, under the chairmanship of Borisov and Vice President of the Cuban Council of Ministers Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, took place in Havana on October 29-30 to discuss business projects and cross-industry cooperation.