(AGENPARL) – KREMLIN mer 14 giugno 2023

From the Russian side, the talks were
attended by Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov and Deputy Prime Minister and Russian Co-Chair of the Russian-Cuban Intergovernmental Commission for Trade,
Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation Dmitry Chernyshenko.

* * *

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Prime Minister,

I am very glad to see you.

There is no need to emphasise the special, allied and long-standing nature of our relations that took shape many
decades ago. You are aware of the fact that we, in Russia, have special feelings
for the Island of Freedom. It has always been so.

Please convey my best wishes to Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez and, of course, Comrade Raul Castro.

Our relations are expanding despite
difficulties. I am aware that a meeting of the intergovernmental commission was
held not long ago. The co-chair of the intergovernmental commission from the Russian side, Mr Chernyshenko, is here now. He reported to me on the progress
of this work.

I know that you have a busy programme.
Quite recently, we met in Sochi, where you represented Cuba within the framework of the EAEU. Cuba has observer status with the EAEU. Your programme
in Moscow is packed with many meetings as well, and then you leave for St
Petersburg to participate in the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. I hope it will be both useful and interesting.

Our bilateral cooperation is even
more interesting. It should cover all areas that we agreed upon, and I am sure
this will be the case. It includes energy, tourism and other priority areas.

We are aware of the fact that Cuba
has been living under illegal sanctions for decades, yet the Cuban people are
coping with them. For our part, we will do our best to ensure that our economic
cooperation helps overcome the difficulties imposed on you from outside.

We are very glad to see you.
Welcome.

Prime Minister of Cuba Manuel Marrero Cruz (retranslated):
Thank you very much, Mr President.

This meeting represents a great
opportunity for us. I understand you have a very busy agenda and you rarely host
guests at the Kremlin.

I would like to say that this is my first visit to Russia as prime minister. I must say that we enjoyed a lot of attention. Before I left for Russia, General of the Army [Raul Castro] asked me
to convey his warm regards to President Putin: “Tell him that we admire him and have a lot of respect for him for his courage, and we wish him every success.”

Also, President Miguel Diaz-Canel
not only asked me to send his regards, but gave me a letter to pass on to you.
So, I am giving this letter to the protocol department. This letter is for you
personally.

We want to congratulate you on the occasion of Russia Day, even though you marked it a day before yesterday. We
saw people celebrating in the streets. On that day, we had a meeting with the Cuban Solidarity Movement in the evening. Our entire delegation took part in this meeting.

You mentioned Sochi. It was a genuinely
positive experience for us, because we have taken part in these events before,
but this was the first time we took part in these events in person.

I met there with the Prime Minister
[Mikhail Mishustin] and prime ministers of other countries that are [EAEU] members.
We had the chance to talk with the Prime Minister of Russia and discuss
expanding bilateral trade and economic ties. We also discussed the challenges
that we are facing due to the West’s attempts to impose more sanctions.

I thanked the Prime Minister of Russia for the role he played in making these events possible as part of the Eurasian Economic Union, which allowed us to fortify ties between our
countries.

To be
continued.

Fonte/Source: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/71426