"President Vladimir Putin asked us to convey his greetings," said Alexander Beglov, governor of the Russian city of St. Petersburg, to Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Party Central Committee and President of the Republic, who received the distinguished visitor yesterday afternoon at the Palace of the Revolution.
"The friendship between our presidents is an example of how we should work and how friends should be," Beglov emphasized during the conversation, which was attended by Political Bureau member and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, and other Cuban officials.
Díaz-Canel, for his part, sent greetings to his Russian counterpart and thanked Beglov for his visit to Santiago de Cuba, recently hit by Hurricane Melissa.
We have been following your agenda and how your stay has deepened relations between St. Petersburg and Santiago de Cuba, Matanzas, and Havana, provinces to which the Russian city donated ambulances. As I told you at the Fair this morning," said Díaz-Canel, "this could be the beginning of a path to deepen ties between Cuban provinces and Russian regions. "I believe it would be another dimension of relations between Cuba and Russia," he said.
The Head of State recalled his stay in St. Petersburg and Moscow last May, in the context of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War and 65 years of bilateral relations.
Afterwards, he said, we followed through on the agreements we had drawn up, the first result of which was a visit by our students to the Summer Camp and the Scarlet Sails Festival in St. Petersburg, and now we have to reciprocate that gesture and make these exchanges a regular occurrence.
The President highlighted, as another result, the fact that the polytechnic scholarship program for Cuban students in Russia's second most important city is taking shape.
ECONOMY AND TRADE: SECTORS OF MUTUAL INTEREST
As part of his working visit to the Caribbean nation, the governor of the Russian city of St. Petersburg, Alexander Dmitrievich Beglov, also met with Political Bureau member and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz at the EXPOCUBA exhibition center, in the context of the Havana International Fair.
In this regard, the Cuban head of government thanked him for his participation in this important trade fair, referring to Cuba's relationship with St. Petersburg, a city that is a symbol of resistance. He also highlighted the crucial role played by the governor in strengthening relations between the two countries.
For his part, Alexander Dmitrievich Beglov conveyed, on behalf of his people, a very special greeting to the Cuban people and recalled the Prime Minister's visit to Russia in June 2023, which included a stay in St. Petersburg.
The high level of political dialogue and the willingness of both parties to continue developing economic and trade relations in areas of common interest were highlighted during the meeting.
