News

17.12.2021

EAEU and Cuba signed joint action plan until 2025

The official visit of the Eurasian Economic Commission’s delegation headed by Sergei Glazyev, Minister in charge of Integration and Macroeconomics, to the Republic of Cuba on December 13-15 was devoted to strengthening the dialogue between the Eurasian Economic Union and the Republic of Cuba as the Observer State at the EAEU.

The second meeting of the Joint Commission on Interaction between the EEC and the Government of Cuba co-chaired by Sergei Glazyev and Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cuba, was the key event.

The sides have stressed that cooperation between the EEC and Cuba intensified in all directions upon the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding in 2018.

"The pandemic has not become an obstacle for us - on the contrary, our cooperation has taken a quantum leap with granting Cuba the Observer State status", Sergei Glazyev stressed.

Following the meeting, the sides signed a Joint Action Plan of the EEC and the Government of the Republic of Cuba for 2021-2025. It covers 34 areas of cooperation.

"The plan for us is a roadmap aimed at achieving concrete results in mutual cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union", noted Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, adding that the dialogue with the EAEU has significant potential for the country within the context of implementing the National Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Republic of Cuba until 2030 and the Economic and Social Strategy to spur economy and overcome the global crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Cuban side showed a special interest in strengthening the sectoral dialogue, in particular, in the field of technical regulation and regulation of medicines circulation in the EAEU. In this regard, the EEC invited representatives of the authorized authority of the Republic of Cuba (CECMED) to join the work in the EAEU Pharmacopoeia Committee as observers.

The sides stressed the need to intensify cooperation between the business circles of Cuba and the EAEU countries, for this purposes an Agreement was signed between the EAEU Business Council and the Chamber of Commerce of Cuba. The document is focused primarily on developing trade, investment, industrial and financial cooperation.

During the working visit, the EEC delegation also gave a presentation on the EAEU and the Commission’s activities for official, business and expert circles of the Republic of Cuba. Certain aspects of developing the dialogue and implementing the concluded plan were discussed by Sergei Glazyev and heads of the Cuban ministries during working meetings. Assistance to Cuba from the EAEU and EEC States in implementing trade, economic and investment cooperation projects, including in the field of agriculture, foreign trade, finance, tourism, pharmaceuticals, etc. was the main keynote of the discussions.

Juan Carlos Garcia Granda, Minister of Tourism of Cuba, presented a detailed presentation of the country's tourism development with an accent on promoting medical tourism which provoked interest from the EEC.

"The combination of tourism and medicine produces an amazing effect, Cuba already integrates into our cooperative ties with large enterprises that offer health-related services to their employees", Sergei Glazyev noted.

Key features of the country's approaches to the access of medicines to its market and promotion of the Cuban products for export as well as prospects for mutual cooperation in the production of medicines and vaccines were discussed during the working meeting with Jose Angel Portal Miranda, Minister of Health, and the visit of the EEC delegation to the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology of Cuba.

Furthermore, Sergei Glazyev held meetings with Alejandro Gil Fernandez, Minister of Economy and Planning, and Francisco Mayobre, Deputy President of the Central Bank, who showed interest in strengthening bilateral interbank relations with the EAEU countries at the level of central and commercial banks as well as establishing contacts with the Eurasian Development Bank.

Given the interest of the Cuban side, it was decided to hold a seminar in H1 of 2022 with an accent on tourism, pharmaceuticals, certain aspects of technical regulation and cooperation development in the field of biotechnology.