Ahead of his visit to Cuba, Argentina and Brazil, Vladimir Putin answered questions from journalists of the Prensa Latina and ITAR-TASS news agencies. In particular, he responded to questions about Russian-Cuban relations today and their outlook for the future.
“At the heart of Russian-Cuban relations lies a long tradition of strong friendship, as well as rich – and in many ways unique – experience of fruitful cooperation,” the Russian president said. “The Russian people have sincere affinity and respect for Cubans. I am convinced that these feelings are mutual.”
“Today, Cuba is one of Russia's leading partners in the region. Our cooperation is strategic and long-term oriented. We closely coordinate our foreign policy, including within multilateral organisations. Our positions coincide on many global and regional issues,” Putin added. “The main objective of our bilateral agenda is to expand our economic relations on the basis of the intergovernmental Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation Programme for 2012–2020. We are working on some major projects in industry and high technologies, energy, civil aviation, the peaceful use of outer space, medicine and biopharmaceuticals.”
“Increasing humanitarian exchanges is one of the most important areas of our cooperation. Hosting Russian music and theatre performances and large-scale exhibitions has become a good tradition in Cuba. We will continue to develop youth and scientific contacts, as well as cooperation in education and tourism,” the Russian president said.
Putin also pointed out that tens of thousands of Cubans have studied in Russia. “Annually, we give Cuban students the opportunity to study at Russian universities with the expenses covered by the state budget. One hundred scholarships were allocated to Cuba for the 2014‑2015 academic year,” Putin noted.
A number of successful joint theatre and music projects have always been organized, such as the Anna Karenina production by the Vakhtangov Theatre last October in Havana, which won the honor the best foreign performance of 2013. Russia also takes an active part in the annual Havana International Book Fair.
“We are very pleased that after a long break Cuba has re-joined the International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature,” the Russian president said. “A group of Russian language experts was established at the Cuban Linguistic Association, and specialized courses were launched at the Havana University.”
Russkiy Mir Foundation Information Service
