Latin America is a “priority” extra-regional partner for the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a common market comprising Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
Goar Barseguian, head for Latin America at the Eurasian Economic Commission, the Eurasian Economic Union’s regulatory body, said this in an exclusive interview with Sputnik.
“Our relations with Latin America are close and friendly,” Barseguian said at this year’s Eurasian Economic Forum.
The extensive program of the event, which brought together nearly 3,000 delegates from 54 countries in the Russian capital on May 24-25, included a round table dedicated to the EEU’s ties with Latin American partners.
According to Barseguián, the EEU continues developing ties with Latin American countries and integration blocs “despite all the geo-economic obstacles”.
“Crises, besides creating difficulties, also create opportunities”, emphasized Barseguián.
He said that the EEU had signed memorandums with a series of Latin American countries, among which he mentioned Chile, Peru, and Cuba.
At the same time, progress is being made toward formalizing relations with Nicaragua.
There are also documents signed with regional integration blocs.
“There is great potential to increase our commercial exchange and deepen our cooperation,” said Barseguián, highlighting the role of the Eurasian Economic Forum in promoting contacts between the parties.
According to Barseguián, “logistics” is the main challenge to be solved in trade between the EEU and Latin America, one of the problems created by Western sanctions.
However, work is successfully done to overcome obstacles in this and other areas.
Regarding these exports to Latin America, Barseguian said, are mainly “machines and equipment”, while the EEU countries import Latin American products such as “meat, poultry, fish or coffee”.
The EEU also offers Latin America its “financial services” and seeks to promote tourism.
In this last context, Barseguián highlighted the case of Cuba, an increasingly attractive and accessible destination thanks to the increase in flights to the island and the implementation of the Russian payment system MIR in the Caribbean nation.
“Also, we recently signed an agreement between the EEU Business Council and the Cuban Chamber of Commerce, which allows B2B business between our companies,” Barseguián concluded.
With information from Sputnik
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