First came the greeting, especially affectionate, in the Hall of the Proceres of the Palace of the Revolution; the emphatic "welcome" pronounced yesterday afternoon by the President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, His Excellency Sergey V. Lavrov.
Then, at the beginning of a dialogue that lasted about an hour, the dignitary told the diplomatic expert: "For us it is a pleasure, it is a pleasure to receive you again in Cuba. We do so with the feeling that we are receiving a true friend of Cuba, someone who has shown tremendous sensitivity and understanding towards our problems, and with whom we have always had a fluid relationship of exchange".
The Head of State reminded the friend -who came to the Greater Antilles on a working visit for the ninth time since he assumed his current post- that in a few days it will be 20 years since he took office as Minister of Foreign Affairs. In addition, he told him: "We are very pleased that you have come on this visit with such a large delegation from your Ministry; we have been aware that the conversations and meetings have been fruitful.
"All this, undoubtedly, is one more expression of those that day by day are manifested in the strengthening of bilateral relations between Cuba and the Russian Federation," valued the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba. "These are relations that have a very solid historical basis."
The Russian Foreign Minister spoke with the press of the Presidency of the Republic of Cuba, and made reference to the fact that both the President and he talked about the relations that unite the two States, and that he had already discussed with his counterpart, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla.
He spoke of cardinal issues of bilateral interest, and mentioned, in the first place, the purpose of building the legal basis for the closeness between the Caribbean country and the Eurasian nation, and to continue to make the paths of economic, trade and investment cooperation.
Recently, the diplomat said, decisions have been taken to strengthen the political basis of the permanent rapprochement. He mentioned fronts such as the supply to Cuba of oil, its derivatives and fertilizers, and also referred to opportunities for Russian business and investments in the island.
In an explanation that has to do, as he said, with "fundamentals for the long-term development of the Cuban economy", he referred to "many good prospects in tourism".
On this last issue, Lavrov stressed that, "as for the number of direct flights from Russia to Cuba, there is more than one flight every week; and if there is demand, there will be more flights, and it is certain that there will be demand".
Another area highlighted by him -because Cuba and the Eurasian nation have "very active ties"- was that of Education. He expressed that "we have a very good and very favorable program for Cubans to study in our universities".
In the same line of thought, he emphasized the "cultural ties, traditionally very good". He did not overlook the sports ones, which will be increasing; all of which he summarized as "a small part of our bilateral relations".
He gave special consideration to the cooperation spaces that Cuba and Russia maintain in the international scenario, which he described as "very important coordination". Together with the Cubans and other friends from like-minded countries, he said, we will continue to advocate for the protection of the UN Charter, while maintaining a position "against unilateral and illegal sanctions".
Regarding the latter, he affirmed: "It is a flagrant situation that the commercial, economic and financial blockade of Cuba by the United States continues to exist, despite the fact that all States are condemning it".
As for the interest of the Greater of the Antilles in increasing cooperation with the Brics countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), he said that his nation, today in the presidency of that group, "will support Cuba". "We will also support Cuba in the development of its relations with the Eurasian Economic Union."
According to a statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov's presence is part of his tour of other countries in the Latin American region, which will take him to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and to Brazil, where on February 21 and 22 he will participate in a meeting of foreign ministers of the member countries of the Group of 20, in Rio de Janeiro.
