Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov traveled to Cuba this Tuesday to meet his local counterpart Bruno Rodriguez, with whom he will address the international and regional agenda and various aspects of bilateral cooperation, especially in the economic, trade, cultural and humanities spheres.
The head of Russian diplomacy will visit Havana for two days, during which he will evaluate together with Rodríguez the evolution of the agreements signed last November by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
At that meeting, Putin promised Díaz-Canel to help the Caribbean country in the process of modernization and reform of its economy.
One of the main projects underway on the island with Russian investment involves improving railroad track capacity and reviving Cuba’s depressed railroad freight transportation with the investment of some one billion euros (equivalent to about 1.123 billion dollars) until 2030.
Lavrov and Rodríguez will also address the agenda of political contacts for this year, including those at the highest level, in order to continue strengthening the two countries’ coordinated positions in relation to the main regional and international problems.
Both nations coincide in their support for President Nicolás Maduro in the midst of the Venezuelan crisis with the head of Parliament opponent Juan Guaidó, self-proclaimed interim president of Venezuela since last January, and in their rejection of the U.S. embargo against the island and interference in the internal affairs of countries, especially by Washington, recalled the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Lavrov and Rodríguez met last May in Moscow, where they demonstrated their unity in the face of the U.S. “unilateral coercive measures” against the two countries, especially the strengthening of the embargo against Cuba and Washington’s attempts to reactivate the Monroe Doctrine in Venezuela, a 1904 policy that attributed unilateral rights to the U.S. over Latin America.
In addition, at their meeting in Havana Lavrov and Rodríguez will discuss ways to strengthen economic and trade ties and cooperation in education, given that Russia has assigned Cuba 100 places in its universities for the 2019-2020 school year.
After passing through Havana, Lavrov will go to Brazil on the 25th, where he will participate the following day in the meeting of foreign ministers of the BRICS group, formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The head of Russian diplomacy will take advantage of the visit to meet with his Brazilian counterpart, Ernesto Araújo.
The Latin American tour of the head of Russian diplomacy will conclude next Saturday in Suriname, the former Dutch colony bordering Brazil, where he will meet with his counterpart Yldiz Deborah Pollack-Beighle, as well as with Suriname President Desiré Delano Bouterse.
