Practical aspects of cooperation between the Eurasian
Economic Commission and Cuba, with due regard for granting Havana the Observer
State status at the Eurasian Economic Union, were discussed by Goar Barsegyan,
Director of the EEC Integration Development Department, and Julio Antonio
Garmendia Pena, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of
Cuba to the Russian Federation, during a working meeting held on December 22.
The meeting took place at the EEC's headquarters.
On behalf of the Commission, Goar Barsegyan has
congratulated the Republic of Cuba on the decision adopted by the Heads of the
Member States on December 11 this year during the meeting of the Supreme
Eurasian Economic Council,
noting that the EEC and the Government of the Republic of Cuba expect an
ambitious and active cooperation agenda which will complement the already
established cooperation within the Memorandum of Understanding.
"We are delighted to be granted the Observer
State status at the EAEU, this decision was enthusiastically welcomed in Cuba.
Deepening our cooperation opens up many promising opportunities for developing
further interaction, primarily in such areas as trade and economic cooperation
and technology exchange," Garmendia
Pena said.
During the conversation, the sides paid primary focus
to forming the cooperation agenda for the next three years. The draft of the
new Joint Action Plan for 2021-2023, containing the EEC proposals, was
previously submitted to the Cuban side
through diplomatic channels to include counter-proposals. The agreement on the
matter was reached during a working meeting between Mikhail
Myasnikovich, Chairman of the EEC Board, and Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, Deputy
Prime Minister of Cuba, held in September of this year at the Commission.
"We are ready to promptly explore the
counter-proposals submitted by the Cuban side to reach a final agreement on the
plan in early 2021 and start its implementation," Goar Barsegyan noted.
The plan will include both general (organizational) issues of
cooperation related to arranging the work of the joint commission on
interaction and
issues of interaction in the areas of cooperation determined in the Memorandum of Understanding as well as issues related to strengthening ties
between the business communities of the EAEU and the Republic of Cuba.
The representatives of the EEC and the Republic of
Cuba have stressed the importance of establishing contacts between the business
circles of the Member States and Cuba. Representatives of the business
community will be invited to take part both in the activities of the joint
commission
on interaction established in accordance with the Memorandum between the EEC
and the Government of Cuba dated May 31, 2018, and in the leading congress and
exhibition events on the Eurasian topics being organized in the Member States.
This refers to such forums as the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum,
the Astana Economic Forum, the Eurasian Economic Forum and others. It was also
decided to involve the Cuban partners in events within functioning of the
Advisory Board for Interaction between the EEC and the EAEU Business Council.
"It is the creation of favorable conditions for
implementing business projects which is one of the main indicators of the
successful integration development," Goar Barsegyan noted.
Goar Barsegyan has
also informed the Ambassador about the Strategy for Developing the Eurasian
Economic Integration until 2025 approved by the Heads of the EAEU States which,
besides ambitious plans for developing the Union’s single market and economic
integration of the “five” countries, provides for forming the EAEU as one of the
centers for developing present-day world. And in the furtherance of this goal,
it is planned, inter alia, to form and implement joint action plans of the EEC
with the governments of the States that have received the Observer State status
at the EAEU.