New Delhi [India], March 22 (ANI/SRV): The Latin American Caribbean Federation of India (LACFI) organized the India Cuba Trade Conference which was attended by the Business community in South India.
The President of the Indian Economic Trade Organization, Dr Asif Iqbal, welcomed the Ambassador of Cuba, HE Alejandro Simancas Marin, in India and pledged the commitment of support between the two nations for a robust partnership. The Ambassador was accompanied by Abel Despaigne, the Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Cuba.
Jayesh Ranjan IAS, Principal Secretary, welcomed the Ambassador of Cuba and said, “Our state is very progressive and we have welcomed various foreign nations to Telangana providing easy single window permission approvals for quick initiatives. This has been proven in the pandemic time when our vaccine and pharma sector was very active in making such mechanisms with various foreign nations.”
There is a huge interest in India for Cuba, a country with great scope for bilateral trading opportunities in Pharma, Medicines, IT development, and Industrial development by Indian companies. The Delegation from India headed by the then president Shri Ramnath Kovind in 2017 has evinced a lot of interest between the two nations.
The event was attended by the Principal Secretary of Telangana, Shri Jayesh Ranjan IAS, who also spoke about accelerating India’s relationship with the Latin American region and was welcomed from Telangana state to pledge support for the various other island nations around the Caribbean region.
Balaiah Dasari, IRS the head of MEA Secretariat in Hyderabad spoke about India’s efforts in strengthening relations especially when India is celebrating 75 years of India’s Independence. He assured all cooperation to the Cuban delegation and encouraged them to avail the services of the Ministry of External Affairs for furthering the bilateral economic & trade relations between the State of Telangana and Cuba.
India has also in the past extended various credit lines to Cuba through the Exim Bank a line of credit of USD 75 million (over Rs 500 crore) to Cuba for financing solar parks. An agreement was signed between the Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) and Banco Exterior De Cuba in July 2020. India was amongst the first countries to extend recognition to Cuba after the 1959 Revolution.
A delegation mounted by the D/o Biotechnology and BIRAC (Biotechnology IndustryResearch Assistance Council) visited on the sidelines of the visit of the President of India to Cuba to hold discussions with ‘Bio CubaFarma’. A Tripartite Letter of Intent betweenBIRAC, KIHT, and Kalam Institute of Health Technology (KIHT) and ‘Bio CubaFarma’ was also signed during this time for collaboration in Biotechnology. A hockey turf at the National School of Hockey was inaugurated on 19 November in Havana for which India has contributed US $ 1 million.
Ambassador of Cuba said, “Indo Cuban trade relations were essential and it was gratifying to see the development of trade relations between India and Cuba”. During his speech, Ambassador Alejandro Simancas recalled historic moments that laid the foundations of friendship, dialogue, and cooperation, which currently exist between Cuba and India, and stressed the opportunity for the Indian trade community to maintain this legacy and continue strengthening ties between the two nations. The Cuban diplomat valued India’s defense of its sovereignty and national independence, as well as its struggle for unity and consensus, concepts with which we fully identify.
The Ambassador also presented the Cuban Rum from Havana to Shri Jayesh Ranjan from Telangana and also expressed great interest in supporting the trade relations between the two countries and invited the trade community to explore all the available choices for investors. He inaugurated the office in Hyderabad for Cuba Trade Commission and welcomed Dr Murthy Devarabhotla who accepted the letter of appointment for the Latin American Caribbean Federation of India. PHARMEXIL hosted a dinner and invited 20 pharma companies to interact with the Ambassador to further the trade in this sector.
“As the trade commissioner of Latin American Cuba Desk, my goal is to build bilateral relations reach new heights between India and Cuba and our forthcoming Indian delegation in May 2022will see tremendous interest from the Indian side”, said Dr Murthy Devarabhotla who is looking to connect the companies for business in Cuba. The Indian delegation will explore opportunities in areas of Pharma, Vaccines, farming, poultry industry, meat processing, and agricultural collaborations and they will also identify other opportunities for building up a robust infrastructure needs of the country in the field of setting up educational institutions.
MOUs were signed during the summit between Pottipati Productions and the LACFI for the production of film songs in Cuba, Importing of Rum into Telangana, and Tourism development with the Federation of Telangana Chamber of Commerce.
Latin American Caribbean Federation of India (LACFI) is working on building bilateral trade relations by assisting Indian companies that are looking at various projects coming up in the Latin American region for promoting growth in commerce and trade, especially in Indian Pharma which is likely to increase as the Cuban market expands.
The delegation of the Latin American Caribbean Federation of India is taking a delegation to Cuba and other parts of South America during 2022 to strengthen mechanisms created for enabling these trade opportunities between India and Latin American region.
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