MOSCOW, January 20. /TASS/. Moscow has proposed opening a Russian trading house in Havana with the participation of the Cuban state corporation CIMEX and is waiting for a response from the Cuban authorities in the next few days.

The press service of Presidential Commissioner for Entrepreneurs’ Rights Boris Titov announced this on Friday.

Titov, who heads the Russia-Cuba business council, had a meeting with Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas and Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment Rodrigo Malmierca in Havana.

"The Russian side is now working very hard to take our economic relations [with Cuba] to a new level. In turn, the task of the business council is to breathe the energy of entrepreneurial initiative into these relations," the press service cited Titov as saying after the meeting.

Titov noted that the Russia-Cuba business council includes many Russian companies that are interested in promoting their products in Cuba.

"Our proposal is to create a Russian trading house here, in Havana, with the participation of CIMEX, which would become the sole wholesale importer of products and independently determine prices on the retail market. In the coming days, we are expecting a reaction from the Cuban government," Titov went on.

The business ombudsman pointed out that "banking support will become very important" for the work of the Russian Trading House

"One of the proposals concerns the creation of a new settlement system in which the accounts of all trading participants would be included. Not only a clearing center, but, by and large, an organization with a banking license, the main task of which is to significantly reduce the volume of cash payments. And, of course, we will have to deal with lending, leasing, and factoring. It is very difficult to develop without financial instruments," he stressed.

Malmierca, in turn, promised to provide full support to the project. "We are working to ensure that Russian investments in Cuba are subject to special protection. Despite the difficulties with liquidity, we can provide this joint venture with special treatment so that it does not have to repatriate its income," he said as quoted by the press service.