ST PETERSBURG, Russian Federation -For common endeavors, to exchange ideas and to take advantage of potentialities wherever they appear, there will always be time and space, it will always be worthwhile to say: "see you later".
That is the certainty derived from the experience of the high-level delegation that arrived in the Russian Federation on Monday, led by the President of the Republic of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.
The afternoon in St. Petersburg was focused on visiting leading institutions in the use of new technologies and permanent innovation. "We are very pleased to welcome you," the dignitary was told at the city's Artificial Intelligence (AI) Monitoring Center.
In the modern AI center, whose purpose is to monitor the functioning of the city in order to improve the flow of life, the president received detailed explanations on how to optimize the vitality of services such as transportation, electricity, water supply, among others.
Some 12,000 calls are received daily from citizens about multiple emergencies. There, until the stories are resolved, they remain open. This is a way, as they explained to the Cuban president, to solve multiple issues, to avoid all kinds of accidents and to reduce indiscipline.
The Head of State inquired whether its creators export the experience to other latitudes, and commented on the relevance of Cuban specialists coming to St. Petersburg to be trained on this 20-year-old undertaking which, supported by tools such as AI, can have a direct impact on the quality of life of a society and be very useful, as it was during the days of COVID-19.
A GROWING FACTORY AND AN INVITATION TO WORK TOGETHER
The second point on the itinerary was the Werteks drug production center, located in the city's Special Economic Zone. Werteks is one of the mainstays of the development of the national pharmaceutical industry. Proud of the variety and presentation of what is made, the managers of the place said that more than 400 products are produced there; 300 of them are generic drugs.
Some 900 people work in the production workshops. It is expected that new facilities will be enlisted, and that another 300 workers will join them. Werteks' reach is extending beyond the territory of the Russian Federation; scientific research is continuing apace; and the resonance of success is reaching as far as the Asian region.
President Díaz-Canel said: "We are very grateful for the welcome we have received and the explanations we have been given". We, he commented, "have a high appreciation for the development of this area and the company".
He alluded to a similar experience that exists in the largest of the Antilles, such as the Mariel Special Zone in Havana, and recalled that last year, just in that scenario, a videoconference allowed to present to the companies of St. Petersburg a group of opportunities of the business portfolio, of which several are associated with the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry.
The dignitary evoked the 90s of the 20th century, when the Island was going through a very complex situation, and Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, "who always had an advanced vision of the role of science and innovation in a country like Cuba, promoted a group of research and innovation centers that became known as the Havana Scientific Pole".
Díaz-Canel commented on the fact that, at that difficult time, "more than 20 centers were oriented to scientific research for the development of biotechnological and pharmaceutical products. Those were very hard times, he said, and some people thought that Fidel was making a big mistake, "but life proved him right: he created a potential for scientific development and innovation, which produced a group of medicines and advanced developments, recognized today in an important part of the world".
The president mentioned Cuban reference products, such as effective vaccines against lung cancer and other types of cancer; a wide range of products of different technologies in vaccines for diseases such as hepatitis; and vaccines against COVID-19, of which Cuba designed five candidates, and three of them became effective vaccines.
"I think that there is potential to carry out joint research and to contribute mutually in developments, perhaps in technological transfers". He affirmed that "the issue of joint development of biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industry has always been part of the discussions we have held with President Putin, with the Intergovernmental Commission and with the Russian Federation".
The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba recalled that Latin America represents an important space, with great potential, for a company like Werteks, if it is a matter of joint ventures: "We invite you to that, and we expect you in Cuba, sooner rather than later", said the head of state.
The intense afternoon session was followed by another important center for the development of the Eurasian giant: the Rosseti Company's intelligent laboratory for encrypted networks. This entity is one of the largest dedicated to electricity distribution throughout the national territory, with an active presence in 82 regions.
Díaz-Canel received a detailed explanation of what they do there in terms of engineering and construction of electrical installations, equipment testing and implementation of digital technologies, as well as the solution of problems related to cybersecurity.
In parting, the dignitary expressed to his attentive hosts, "See you in Cuba. We have to do things like this."
