The president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin will arrive in Cuba on 11 July in his first stop of a Latin American tour that includes official visits to Argentina and Brazil, said on Friday the Kremlin press office.
The Russian president will visit to Cuba at the invitation of his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro. “Consultations will pay special attention to the development of economic and trade relations, investments, realization of joint projects in the energy sector, transport, civil aviation, peaceful use of space and health,” says the official statement reviewed by the Tass agency.
During his stay, Putin has scheduled a meeting with the leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro, and the signing of several cooperation agreements in various sectors.
Prior to this visit, the lower house of the Russian Parliament (Duma) on Friday ratified an agreement between Russia and Cuba providing for the cancellation of 90% of the debt of Havana with the Soviet Union, which represents about 35.2 billion dollars.
The ratified document relates to the annulment of this amount and refunds the remainder (about 3.5 billion dollars) over ten years through investments in the island, according to unofficial sources.
Moscow is now the ninth largest trading partner of Havana, with trade valued at $ 224 million in 2011, far behind Venezuela, China and Spain, the three main partners of Cuba.
After his visit to Cuba, Putin will pay an official visit to Buenos Aires invited by Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner before continuing on to Brazil where he will attend the closing ceremony of the World Cup and will receive the baton for the next meeting, to be held in Russia in 2018.
Then the President will participate in the BRICS Summit in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza on July 15 and 16, with the signing of several important economic documents on the establishment of BRICS Development Bank and the currency reserve fund, Tass announced.
