Vice-President of the Government of the Russian Federation Dimitri Nikolaevich Chernyshenko affirmed -at the end of the meeting between Putin and Díaz-Canel- that "Cuba is a reliable partner and has the capacity to pay for the state credits and projects contracted in recent years".
He then informed about a special document signed recently, called Plan 2030. "Under that Plan, Russian companies and entrepreneurship have expressed their willingness and confirmed their readiness to invest in Cuba's economy more than one billion dollars.
"I am pleased to inform you that, at the meeting just concluded, our president confirmed that we will employ a special mechanism to subsidize interest rates to our entrepreneurship, in the financing of projects."
He commented that the purpose is to enable them to invest in the economy of the largest of the Antilles, in the areas that Cuba needs most, such as electric power supply, agriculture and lighting, among others.
"We hope that this will contribute to the fact that, soon, more Russian businessmen will go to Cuba, which will help Cuba's economy to become independent and achieve sovereignty in all senses."
He made special reference to tourism. He praised the natural conditions of the Caribbean country and the beauty of its beaches. "Russian tourists can visit Cuba all year round, and we have the goal of becoming the country with the largest presence of tourists in the Cuban market.
"There is still hard work to be done, it is little by little," adding that it is "impossible to achieve things immediately, as if by magic."
On the relations between Cuba and Russia, the vice-president of the Russian Government valued that "at this historic moment we have reached an amazing level of cooperation and understanding", and that this strength is the result of hard work, permanent, from both sides, in the last eight years.
"I also want to express my immense gratitude to my colleague and friend Cabrisas (Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, Cuban deputy prime minister), who has done a lot in recent decades for Cuba and Russia. I must emphasize that we have created a modern system that offers opportunities for Russian entrepreneurship and to help Cuba's economy," Chernyshenko stressed.
