Russian officials and business leaders signed multiple agreements with their Cuban counterparts at a forum in Havana this week, agreeing to work together to boost sugar and rum production, secure supplies of wheat and crude oil to the communist-ruled island and repair facilities. ruined tourist
The longtime political allies, both subject to US sanctions, seek to cement economic ties by facilitating trade and investment.
The agreements “constitute a milestone in the history of our bilateral and trade ties,” Ricardo Cabrisas, Cuba’s foreign trade minister, said in a closing speech at the forum on Friday.
The agreements include a contract for the Russian company Prodintorg to supply wheat to the Cuban state company Alimport, with the aim of «guaranteeing the stability» of the supply to the Cuban population, according to a document from the Cuba-Russia Business Committee seen by Reuters.
Another agreement will create a Cuba-based marketplace for Russian products, including food and household items, called Rusmarket, which will also help spur the development of more direct and seamless shipping routes between the two countries, according to the document.
A third agreement sets out Russia’s and Cuba’s intention to revive the decrepit residential beach community of Tarara, whose white-sand beaches just minutes from Havana, the document says, are «ideal for enjoying the ocean, fishing and diving.»
Russian Deputy Prime Minister of Tourism, Sports, Culture and Communications Dmitry Chernyshenko separately announced on Friday a presidential order to restore regular flights between Russia and Cuba in July, suspended since March 2022 due to the conflict in Ukraine.
Other deals announced this week include one aimed at developing a Russian-Cuban rum venture, which would seek to boost exports of Cuba’s prized rum. Russia also provided funds, know-how and technology to restart a steel plant in Cuba to supply construction materials on the island, according to Cuban state media reports.
Top Russian business leaders praised Cuba earlier this week for opening the door to Russian investors and providing them with «preferential treatment,» including tariff exemptions, long-term land grants and ease of repatriating profits.
More than 150 Russian businessmen attended the forum in Havana, according to Cuban officials.
Russia also vowed this week to help revive Cuba’s once-vaunted sugar industry, which has nearly collapsed in recent years as output plunged to record lows.
Aleksandr Bogatyr of Russia’s Progress Agro told Reuters on the sidelines of the forum that his company and Cuba’s state-owned sugar company Azcuba would start a joint venture next year to recondition the obsolete «Uruguay» sugar mill in Sancti Spíritus province. .
The firm hopes to eventually export up to 150,000 tons of sugar per year, around a third of this year’s national target.
“Cuba was once one of the main (sugar) producers in the international market and with this project, working together, we hope to gradually raise production levels,” Bogatyr said.
He called the project a Russian investment but declined to give figures.
“It would be an important investment because we would bring all the new equipment and we would organize the necessary inputs to produce cane, such as fertilizers and specialized technology,” he said.
Bilateral trade between Cuba and Russia reached 450 million dollars in 2022, three times more than in 2021, and shot up to 137.6 million dollars in the first four months of 2023, nine times more than in the same period of the year earlier, Russian officials said.