Havana, Cuba.- The Vice President of the Cuban Council of Ministers, Ricardo Cabrisas, expressed on Tuesday his country”s will to strengthen ties of brotherhood and political and commercial exchange with Russia.

During the development in this capital of the 16th session of the Intergovernmental Commission, the Cuban leader stressed the importance of ‘continuing to deepen bilateral relations, through the effective participation of the Government and Russian companies in Cuba’s development plans until 2030 and further.’

‘On Thursday our President Miguel Diaz-Canel will begin an official visit to Moscow, which is a step in the increase of existing ties,’ he noted.

Cabrisas described as productive the meetings held between delegations of both States in the last days, during which they discussed the development of projects in areas such as health, sports, energy, transport, science, technology and agriculture.

Since 2016, Russia is one of our 10 first business partners. We expressed ourselves in favor of increasing the presence of Cuban products in that country’s market, as well as to promote the export of services from the medical-pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology, he added.

During the meeting, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Yury Borisov, highlighted the excellent state of existing ties and recalled that in 2017 bilateral trade reached 200 million dollars, double the figure recorded in 2015.

In addition, he indicated that there are 16 joint projects in preparation and recognized the interest of both parties in increasing economic cooperation.