Cuba and China sign accord on economic/technical cooperation

Cuba and China signed an agreement on economic and technical cooperation on the occasion of the one-day visit to Havana on Thursday (June 25) of Deputy Prime Minister Wang Yang.

Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, vice president of the Council of Ministers, signed for Cuba.

According to the newspaper Juventud Rebelde, the agreement came as a result of “a donation from the Chinese government to Cuba.” Neither the Cuban nor the Chinese media specified the size of the gift.

Ileana Núñez Mordoche, deputy minister of Foreign Trade, thanked Wang for the donation and said that it will fund “projects of cooperation approved by both parties.”

“This agreement reaffirms China as one of Cuba’s strategic partners in fulfilling the 2016-2020 national development programs,” she said, quoted by the Xinhua news agency.

Wang called for strengthened planning in cooperation between the two countries in infrastructure construction, bio-tech, agriculture and renewable energy, as well as efforts to explore industrial and investment cooperation potentials, Xinhua reported.

In turn, Cabrisas pinpointed key sectors for future cooperation, including bio-tech, pharmacy, agriculture, manufacture, energy and tourism.

Wang said that his visit aims to cement the agreements reached by presidents Xi Jinping and Raúl Castro last year “and to produce tangible results on the basis of sound bilateral political relations.”

Later in the day, Wang and his delegation met with President Castro. Present at that encounter were Cabrisas, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla and Foreign Trade Minister Rodrigo Malmierca. Wang then departed for Brazil.

[Photo at top of President Raúl Castro greeting Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Wang Yang, Thursday in Havana.]