• Submitted by: manso
• International
• 02 / 23 / 2011

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At a meeting Tuesday in Minsk with visiting Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, Belarussian President Aleksandr Lukashenko expressed great interest in increased trade with the island.

Quoted by Komsomolskaya Pravda, the president told his guest that "in Cuba, much is done in the development of biotechnology, in the production of medicines. So, why don't you come here to the Customs Union, create a joint venture and benefit from it?"

The Customs Union is a common market formed by Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan.

"If Cuba needs technical upgrades – and I know that you are interested in establishing joint ventures to produce tractors and technical equipment – we will happily implement those projects," the president told Rodríguez.

Lukashenko also referred to increased purchases of sugar by Belarus.

"The market is huge, prices are high," he said. "Wherever you turn, there are projects on which we can rapidly move forward. Cuba is one of Belarus' priority partners in Central and Latin America."

Another possibility is to establish trilateral projects involving Venezuela, Lukashenko suggested: "There are many areas of our cooperation that will be very beneficial to Cuba."

Source: /miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_colada/2011/02/