Foothold in Latin America

The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, met with the Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz

“I am happy to welcome the envoy of the Island of Freedom in Belarus. We have always maintained warm and friendly relations. You should know that we will continue to adhere to these approaches,” the Head of the Belarusian State emphasised.
The President noted that at the diplomatic and political level the countries share similar views. 
“But you, as a practical person who heads the government, understand perfectly well that the basis of all this is the economy. Preparing for this meeting and studying the entire range of trade and economic relations, I understood that we need to work harder to raise economic and trade co-operation to the level of political relations. There is only one conclusion on my part: trade and economic relations are lagging far behind political and humanitarian ones,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.
According to the President, some issues have not been resolved for decades. They are being discussed at various levels, but no progress has been made so far.

“We need to take stock of our relations and identify the areas in which we will co-operate and solve the problems have remained unaddressed so far. What remains unchanged is that we, as a high-tech country, will keep building relations with Latin America. While doing so, we will rely first and foremost on Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. 

Furthermore, we are viewing your visit from this standpoint. We really hope that we will be able to significantly intensify our trade and economic relations. We are not happy that our trade slightly exceeds $10 million,” the Belarusian leader believes.
The President suggested that Belarus and Cuba use their best endeavours to deepen trade and economic interaction so that it will catch up with the level of political and humanitarian contacts.
 In turn, Manuel Marrero Cruz thanked the Belarusian Head of State for the opportunity to meet and for the warm welcome for the Cuban delegation. “We appreciate the cordiality that we have felt from the moment we arrived; your warm reception makes us feel at home,” he added.
The prime minister also conveyed greetings to Aleksandr Lukashenko from the leadership of Cuba and personally from President Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez, who, according to him, cherishes memories of his visit to Minsk in 2019.
“I have listened to you very carefully, and I completely agree with what you have said. Your analysis of bilateral trade and economic relations is very accurate. I share your opinion. We are also determined to change this situation,” Manuel Marrero Cruz said.
According to him, the prime ministers of Belarus and Cuba need to undertake comprehensive efforts to improve the situation and flesh out co-operation with specific projects. 

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Cuba is a significant partner of Belarus on the international stage and one of the most important allies in the Western Hemisphere.
After the collapse of the USSR, Belarus remained practically the only republic that maintained relations with Cuba in the same way. In October 1997, a decision was made to transform the Belarusian trade mission in Cuba into an Embassy, which became the first diplomatic mission of the Republic of Belarus in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In April 2022, the countries celebrated the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, but the history of fruitful interaction goes back many decades. Since the times of the USSR, Belarus has been a reliable supplier of various products to the Island of Freedom. In the 1960s–1980s, Cuba received more than 30 thousand Belarus tractors from the Belarusian SSR, as well as more than 700 thousand refrigerators, potash and nitrogen fertilisers, as well as food.
In July 1972, Fidel Castro visited Belarus. The leader of the Cuban communists then walked around the main square of Minsk, visited Khatyn and the Mound of Glory. In 2000, the President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko flew to Cuba and met with Fidel Castro. The heads of the two countries signed an agreement on friendship and co-operation. The Cuban leader then called Belarus ‘the most friendly of the countries in the post-Soviet space’ and awarded the Belarusian leader the Order of José Martí. This is one of the three highest awards on Liberty Island. Then visits took place in 2006 and 2012.
In January-September 2023, trade turnover reached $10.5 million, the growth rate compared to the same period last year was 307 percent.
The main volume of Belarusian exports to Cuba are tractors, trucks, internal combustion engines, tires, spare parts, agricultural machinery and equipment. The leading exporters of Belarusian products were such enterprises as Belagromash, MTZ, MAZ and others. Medicines are mainly imported from Cuba.

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by
Photos by belta