From November 4 to 8, a delegation of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation headed by Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation Ilya Zubkov visited the Republic of Cuba.
The delegation of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation was formed from the heads of the chambers of commerce and industry of the Moscow, Ryazan, Tula and Chelyabinsk regions, as well as member organizations of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. On November 4, Vice President Ilya Zubkov and members of the delegation took part in the official opening ceremony of the 40th International Havana Fair and Exhibition FIHAV-2024 and the Russian exposition at the exhibition. In terms of its scale, level of representation and number of participants, the exhibition is one of the most successful exhibition venues in Latin America. The Russian Federation is a traditional participant in the exhibition. The official opening of the anniversary exhibition FIHAV-2024 was attended by the President of the Republic of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel, who visited the Russian pavilion, with whom Ilya Zubkov and members of the delegation of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry had a working conversation on the sidelines of the exhibition.
On the same day, the Russian-Cuban Business Forum was held.
"I would like to separately note the interest of Russian citizens in visiting Cuba for tourism purposes. The forecast for 2024 is 200 thousand tourists from Russia. Multiple growth and serious potential for the Cuban tourism industry. The emergence of the possibility of paying in Cuba with bank cards of the MIR payment system, which eliminates the need to carry cash, increases safety and convenience during travel, "Ilya Zubkov emphasized.
Great importance is attached to the development of cooperation with Cuba at the regional level. A number of agreements have been previously concluded both with the administrations of Russian regions and individual provinces of Cuba, and between the Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Such documents were signed by the Republic of Bashkortostan, Moscow, Orenburg and Yaroslavl regions, Nizhny Novgorod. And on November 4, within the framework of the Russian-Cuban Business Forum, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Ryazan Region and the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Cuba.
At the end of the Forum, a meeting was held between the Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation Ilya Zubkov and the President of the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Cuba Antonio Carricare Corona.
On November 5, bilateral meetings were held between Ilya Zubkov and the delegation of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation with the leadership of the ministries and departments of the Republic of Cuba, at which agreements were reached on further cooperation.
"Today, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation is 130 chambers in 83 regions of Russia and more than 54 thousand entrepreneurs. Many of them have potential interest in cooperation. We are ready to convey the Cuban side's proposals to our businesses and act as a bridge for direct dialogue, of course, with the participation of the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Cuba," Ilya Zubkov emphasized.
At a meeting with the Minister of Tourism of the Republic of Cuba, Juan Carlos Garcia Grande, Ilya Zubkov noted that the Russian side is interested in developing the tourism potential of our cooperation. The Committee on Entrepreneurship in Tourism and more than 70 public organizations on the development of the tourism industry in the regions operate on the basis of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia. They include leading industry representatives, entrepreneurs, and experts. The parties reached an agreement with the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Cuba to hold a joint online meeting on tourism development, discuss growth points and problematic issues, ways to solve them, and, based on the results, formulate joint initiatives. Of course, this should be done with the direct participation of entrepreneurs from the two countries. On November 5, the head and members of the delegation of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation also met with the Deputy Minister of Food Industry of the Republic of Cuba Francisco Javier Aguiar, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Cuba Maury Echavarria, the Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment of the Republic of Cuba Oscar Perez-Oliva Fraga, and the Deputy Minister of Economy and Planning of the Republic of Cuba Mildry Granadillo de la Torre. The meetings discussed prospects for further cooperation between the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation and the Cuban business community.
Ilya Zubkov also had a working meeting with the Trade Representative of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Cuba Sergey Baldin.
The final event in the business program of the Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation Ilya Zubkov was participation in a meeting of the Intergovernmental Russian-Cuban Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, co-chaired by: from the Russian side - Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Chernyshenko and Prime Minister of the Republic of Cuba Ricardo Cabrisas. The participants discussed key areas of bilateral cooperation.
After the official events, Vice President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ilya Zubkov and members of the delegation visited the Mariel Free Economic Zone, which is a production and logistics platform for increasing the level of national production.
By Department of Regional Development
