RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina, and Cuba deepened their bilateral cooperation ties in agricultural matters on the occasion of the visit that the Argentine Secretary of International Economic Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jorge Neme, made to the island country between August 26 and 31.
According to a communiqué issued this Thursday (2) by the Argentine Foreign Ministry, Neme “maintained an intense work agenda” with high Cuban authorities.
The objective of both countries is “to promote greater food production in Cuba, which contributes to strengthening food sovereignty and the substitution of imports from the island while opening opportunities for Argentine companies in the Cuban market”.
Neme visited the Grain Research Institute and the main companies dedicated to the agricultural activity, accompanied by the Argentine ambassador, Luis Ilarregui, and a group of Argentine businessmen dedicated to agricultural activity.
He also met with high-ranking officials of the Cuban government, such as Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla; Minister of Agriculture, Ydael Jesús Pérez Brito; Deputy Prime Minister, Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz; Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, and Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Maury Hechavarría.
At these meetings, they evaluated alternatives for developing technical cooperation projects and business models in various agricultural areas in Cuba, “which have great potential for the cultivation of grains such as corn, beans, and soybeans, as well as for livestock, the poultry, and goat industry, the dairy industry and the production of tropical fruits such as bananas, mangoes, avocados, and citrus fruits.”
Likewise, progress was made in a scheme that contemplates the production of ethanol from sugar cane, which would make it possible to reduce Cuba’s dependence on imported oil.
“Argentina will accompany the Republic of Cuba in its import substitution process, based on the strengthening of local capacities and the dynamization of value chains, which will allow it to improve its productivity sustainably and strengthen the supply of its domestic market with its own production,” said Neme in statements released by the Argentine Foreign Ministry.