His Excellency Askar Mamin, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan,
His Excellency Mikhail Mishustin, President of the Government of the Russian Federation,
Your Excellencies Heads of Government and Delegations:
I take this opportunity to thank the invitation to participate in this session of the Council, and to thank the Russian Federation, especially its President of the Government, in his capacity as host of this event.
I would like to begin by acknowledging the support received by your governments, after the incorporation of Cuba as an Observer State of the Eurasian Economic Union.
We reiterate our commitment to enhance our insertion in this integrating mechanism and honor the condition we have received.
In this spirit, conversations have been held between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of our countries, to exchange on the possibility of increasing cooperation, both in the context of the Eurasian Economic Union and at the bilateral level.
Cuba attaches great importance to economic, commercial, financial and cooperation relations with the States of the Union and ratifies its willingness to collaborate in the implementation of the strategic guidelines for the development of Eurasian economic integration until 2025, in correspondence with our Economic and Social Strategy and the National Plan for Cuban economic and social development until 2030.
The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a major multisectoral crisis, aggravated by trade wars and unilateral coercive measures that violate International Law.
In this scenario, Cuba has had to face the unprecedented tightening of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States government, which remains intact under the current administration of President Biden. On the other hand; the economic impact of COVID-19, with a particular impact on tourism, one of our main sources of foreign exchange earnings; and also important effects due to the incidences of natural disasters as a consequence of climate change.
I take this opportunity to reiterate our appreciation for the permanent support of your countries in condemning the United States blockade against my country.
Excellencies:
Cuba attaches special significance to the development of close and multifaceted cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union and its member states. As we have already expressed to different authorities in their countries, we reiterate our interest in expanding and strengthening Cuba's insertion in Eurasian initiatives and in bilateral cooperation in areas such as trade, energy, transport, tourism, the iron and steel industry, mining, health, pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology.
Given the incidence of COVID-19 in our countries, the high prices of the commercialization of vaccines and the estimates that indicate that, with the current vaccination rate, it would take 21 years to immunize the entire world population, we reiterate our willingness to support the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union in the fight against this pandemic with our vaccines, which may also lead to a strategic line of our cooperation.
Our vaccine candidates, developed by scientists from the Finlay Vaccine Institute and the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, have so far proven effective against new strains detected worldwide. Phase III clinical trials with the Soberana 02 and Abdala vaccines go smoothly. The levels of antibodies they generate have been shown to be at the same level or higher than those of other candidates. In this way, Cuba has the capacity to produce a large quantity of vaccines and is scheduled to become one of the first countries to immunize its entire population.
On the other hand, we are interested in increasing exports of Cuban goods and services to the Union market and in achieving the participation of their business community in foreign investment projects in Cuba, which will have the full support of the corresponding Cuban authorities.
Cuba also works to strengthen relations with the tourism sector of the countries of the Union, based on the experience developed with the Russian Federation, especially through corporate and health tourism. We are engaged, at this time, in creating all the conditions to market safe tourism worldwide.
In this sense, we are willing to negotiate the expansion of air traffic from their countries, incorporating other cities of departure or destination to the already traditional routes, and the increase of air operators and the frequency of flights, with the assurance that Cuba constitutes a safe and attractive corridor for the citizens of its countries. It is a topic that we can continue to expand and negotiate in the context of the next International Tourism Fair "FITCUBA", where Russia will be the guest of honor.
We highlight Cuba's willingness to promote our organization's links with the markets of the Latin American and Caribbean region, bearing in mind that our country has a multidimensional participation in the Association of Caribbean States and in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. In this way, Cuba's economic complementation agreements, signed in the context of the Latin American Integration Association with almost all Latin American and Caribbean countries, could be an opportunity to introduce products from the Eurasian region to Latin American and Caribbean countries. under preferential and advantageous conditions.
Excellencies,
There is great potential to strengthen cooperation with projects of mutual interest, which are included in the documents that regulate our relationship, for which the strengthening of ties in the business sector is vital. It is up to us to interact actively to fulfill the fulfillment of all those tasks that respond to the interests of our countries.
Cuba trusts that, together with the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union, economic and commercial ties and scientific-technical collaboration will be strengthened and results will be achieved in accordance with the level of our relations of cooperation and solidarity.
Thank you.