Archive for the ‘Cuba Hoy’ Category
Posted on January 30, 2009 - by OP40
And the beat goes on…
Cuba’s Raul Castro in talks at Kremlin
AP – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, left, shakes hands with Cuba’s President Raul Castro during their … 
MOSCOW – Russia will provide Cuba with loans to buy industrial and agriculture equipment under a deal signed Friday by President Dmitry Medvedev and Cuban leader Raul Castro.
The deal was part of a series of agreements reached during meetings between Medvedev and Castro, who is on a week-long visit to Russia aimed at deepening ties between the two Cold War-era allies.
Kremlin officials refused to say how big the loans were or what equipment they would be used for. Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said the agreement was confidential, but refused to say why.
Medvedev and Castro oversaw the signings of 10 agreement in all, including a memorandum on energy cooperation. The text of that memo was also not released. Russian news agencies last week reported that leading Russian oil companies had pledged to help Cubapetroleo with prospecting, production, refining and other aspects of the oil industry.
Russia also pledged to provide Cuba with 25,000 metric tons of grain to help the country deal with the aftermath of three hurricane that hit the island last year.
Before the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Moscow provided billions of dollars in trade and subsidies to Cuba and Havana was the Soviet Union’s staunchest Latin American ally during the Cold War. But after the Soviet collapse, aid and diplomatic contacts languished.
Now, Russia is once again courting Cuba and other Latin American countries in an effort to deepen its clout in a region historically dominated by the United States.
Bilateral trade last year was only $239 million  a figure Medvedev said the two nations can quickly boost.
“I am convinced that we have very good conditions to bring our relations to a strategic level. We have very good potential for development,” Medvedev told Castro at the beginning of their talks.
Castro, making his first trip to Moscow in 25 years, told Medvedev that his visit would be a milestone for bilateral ties.
“Undoubtedly this is a very important moment, a key landmark in relations between Russia and Cuba,” he said.
Medvedev visited Havana in November and a Russian naval flotilla also visited the island.
A day earlier, the Cuban leader met informally with Medvedev at a lavish hunting lodge outside of Moscow.
