In the first eight months of 2023, Russian exports to the island grew 7.9 times, while the Caribbean nation multiplied the volume by more than three, compared to the same period of the previous year, confirmed trade representative Sergei Baldin. in statements to the Sputnik agency.

According to him, the boom is due, first of all, to the great interest of both countries in continuing to promote the industrial, commercial, economic and investment agenda, and other areas of mutually beneficial cooperation, aimed at strengthening the strategic partnership and long-term alliance. term.

Through joint efforts, he considered, “we will be able to contribute not only to the implementation of the National Economic and Social Development Plan of Cuba until 2030, but also to the expansion and significant increase in trade.”

The 20th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission, held last May in Havana, served as a bilateral platform for the signing of more than 10 different agreements and treaties that define new directions for promoting collaboration, he exemplified.

According to Baldin, the 16 sectoral working groups that operate within the framework of the Commission constitute “very effective tools” for the coordination and deployment of bilateral economic relations.

Furthermore, last November, Moscow and Havana signed a trade and economic cooperation plan until 2030 that plans to promote the growth of bilateral trade and an increase in investments, he noted.

Russian companies, he recalled, are interested in cooperating with Cuban partners in priority areas such as energy, heavy industry, agri-food complex, construction infrastructure, mining, light industry, transportation, tourism, wholesale and retail trade.

The key tasks are to build mutually beneficial links of long-term trade and economic, industrial, financial, investment, technological, customs and interregional cooperation, the interviewee judged.

ef/ro/mjm