{"id":90331,"date":"2024-06-12T18:15:12","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T15:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/90331\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"belarus-cuba-set-15m-target-for-exchange-of-goods","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/90331\/","title":{"rendered":"Belarus, Cuba set $30m target for exchange of goods"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Illustrative photo (Gayatri Malhotra, unsplash.com)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

June 12, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> Belarus and Cuba have signed a protocol to their agreement on mutual supplies, Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister Ja\u016dhien \u0160astako\u016d announced after the Belarusian-Cuban commission on trade and economic cooperation met in Minsk earlier today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The protocol sets “a new bar for the exchange of goods, up to $15 million for each party over five years,” \u0160astako\u016d said, as quoted by the ministry’s press office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This goal is very ambitious, especially since in the 10 years we have been working under this mechanism, the exchange of goods has resulted in a lower amount,” the deputy foreign minister continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the meeting, the parties also talked about Belarusian food exports to Cuba, “mainly milk powder,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We agreed on further steps in joint investment projects: the establishment of an enterprise in Cuba to assemble tractor equipment; the joint production of whole-milk products from Belarusian raw materials on the basis of a dairy complex near Havana,” \u0160astako\u016d added. “We discussed cooperation in healthcare, from registering medicines to putting out joint products.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the diplomat, “successful cooperation in this area could accelerate the penetration of Belarusian medicines into Latin American markets” and help Cuba promote its medicines in the Eurasian Economic Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a meeting with Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz on June 11, Belarusian Prime Minister Raman Ha\u0142o\u016d\u010danka said that the two countries “doubled the volume of trade” last year and “maintained the positive dynamics” this year, but did not achieve “the desired results in all areas.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The bilateral dialogue between Belarus and Cuba has recently intensified at all levels,” he said. “Last year I met with the prime minister of Cuba twice, including during his official visit to Belarus. We substantively discussed all areas of cooperation and outlined clear steps, primarily to increase bilateral trade and economic cooperation,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Ha\u0142o\u016d\u010danka, the first area of cooperation is “expanding the volumes and mechanisms of countertrade.” The second is “projects directly related to joint investments in the production sphere.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the same day, the Cuban government said that it plans to develop “a program of cooperation with the authorities, financial institutions and businesspeople” aimed at “further expansion and diversification of bilateral ties” with Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purpose of the program is to “achieve greater integration and participation” of Belarus in Cuba’s development plan until 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 10, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodr\u00edguez met with his Belarusian counterpart Siarhiej Alejnik in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, on the sidelines of a BRICS meeting. He praised Belarus for its decades-long opposition to US economic, trade and financial embargo against Cuba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minsk and Havana have recently stepped up their military cooperation. On April 8, a Cuban military delegation led by Gen. Mario Ernesto Rodr\u00edguez Pe\u00f1aranda, commander of the Cuban Revolutionary Air and Air Defense Force, visited the Belarusian capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 20, the Ministry of Defense reported on the talks in Cuba between Chief of General Staff Viktar Hulevi\u010d (dismissed on May 10) and Cuba\u2019s minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces \u00c1lvaro L\u00f3pez Miera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defense Minister Viktar Chrenin and his Cuban counterpart discussed partnership and the international situation during Chrenin’s visit to the island country in late January. Following the meeting, they signed documents on bilateral military cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 15, Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka extended the current mechanism of exchanging Belarusian goods for Cuban medicines for another two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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