CELEBRATION OF WOMENS DAY BY CUBAN WOMEN DELEGATES
Minister for foreign Trade of Cuba with a trade delegation presents trade collaborations.
The Latin American Caribbean Trade Council (LACTC) organized the India Cuba Trade Conference which was attended by the Business community in Bengaluru. The President of Indian Economic Trade Organization Dr. Asif Iqbal welcomed the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economy H.E. Rodrigo Malmeirca Diaz and the Ambassador of Cuba in India HE Alejandro Simancas Marin and pledged the commitment of support between the two nations for a robust partnership. There is a huge interest in India for Cuba, a country with great scope for bilateral trading opportunities in Pharma, Medicines, IT development and Industrial development by Indian companies. Recent delegation by the Minister of State for External Affairs, Mrs. Meenakshi Lekhi also was a great step in promoting the relations.
The event was attended by the Business community in Bengaluru. The Ambassador spoke about accelerating India’s relationship with the Latin American region and welcomed from Karnataka state to pledge support for the various other island nations around the Caribbean region. India has also in the past extended various credit lines to Cuba through the Exim Bank a line of credit of USD 75 million (over Rs 500 crore) to Cuba for financing solar parks. An agreement was signed between Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) and Banco Exterior De Cuba in July 2020. India was amongst the first countries to extend recognition to Cuba after the 1959 Revolution.
A delegation mounted by the D/o Biotechnology and BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry
Research Assistance Council) visited on the sidelines of the visit of President of India to Cuba to hold discussions with ‘Bio CubaFarma’. A Tripartite Letter of Intent between
BIRAC, KIHT and Kalam Institute of Health Technology (KIHT) and ‘Bio CubaFarma’ was also signed during this time for collaboration in Biotechnology. The Director of BioCuba Mr. David Roger Curbelo Rodríguez. Director Commercial and Business was a part of the Delegation.
A hockey turf at the National School of Hockey was inaugurated on 19 November in
Havana for which India has contributed US $ 1 million.
The Minister of Foreign Trade said Indo Cuban trade relations were essential and it was gratifying to see the development of trade relations between India and Cuba. During his speech, the Minister recalled historic moments that laid the foundations of friendship, dialogue and cooperation, which currently exist between Cuba and India, and stressed the opportunity for Indian trade community to maintain this legacy and continue strengthening ties between the two nations. The Cuban minister valued India’s defense of its sovereignty
and national independence, as well as its struggle for unity and consensus, concepts with which we fully identify.
“As a President of the organization, my goal is to build bilateral relations reach new heights between India and Cuba and our forthcoming Indian delegation in May 2023 will see tremendous interest from the Indian side” said Dr. Asif Iqbal who is looking to connect the companies for business in Cuba. Indian delegation will explore opportunities in areas of Pharma, Vaccines, farming, poultry industry, meat processing and agricultural collaborations and they will also identify other opportunities for building up a robust infrastructure needs of the country in the field of setting up education institutions.
The Womens day celebrations were also held by the womens delegation headed by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade Ms. Deborah Rivas Saavedra who had hosted the previous Indian delegation in Cuba few weeks ago.
Latin American Caribbean Trade Council (LACTC) is working on building bilateral trade relations by assisting Indian companies that are looking at various projects coming up in Latin American region for promoting growth in commerce and trade, especially in Indian Pharma which likely to increase as the Cuban market expands.
The delegation of the Latin American Caribbean Trade Council is taking delegation to Cuba and other parts of South America during 2023 to strengthen mechanisms created for enabling these trade opportunities between India and Latin American region.
