Cuba, China pledge to build on growing trade

(China's close relations with Cuba play a key role in undercutting
Washington's campaign to isolate and overthrow the Cuban Revolution.
China has its own reasons for doing what it does, and it's a good
thing, in my opinion, that today China trades actively with Cuba.
The Granma note below is the lead article in Friday's paper: page one,
column one, top of the fold. A related note from the Venezuelan
Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias, the government news service.)
=============

By Marc Frank

HAVANA, March 27 (Reuters) - Cuba and China pledged to build on their
rapidly growing trade on Tuesday, ending two days of meetings with a
vow to do more in industries like oil, pharmaceuticals, nickel,
medical services and tourism.

Chinese Deputy Trade Minister Wei Jian Guo and Cuban Government
Minister Ricardo Cabrisas said in Havana that they had set up a
commission to work on joint investments in various sectors.

Bilateral trade between the two communist-run countries doubled in
2006 to nearly $1.8 billion, according to the Chinese customs office.

More than two thirds of the trade consisted of Chinese exports of
machinery, transportation equipment, consumer and other goods
financed by Chinese credits, while Cuba exported nickel, sugar,
cigars, rum and services to China.

Chinese appliances now adorn most Cuban kitchens, Chinese buses and
locomotives ply the highways and railways and Chinese cranes work the
Caribbean island's ports.

"Both parties express their satisfaction with Cuba's complete meeting
of all financial obligations," a final declaration at the end of the
talks said.

According to the statement, the two countries renewed an agreement
under which Cuba exports 400,000 tonnes of raw sugar annually to
China and ratified Cuban plans to supply the Asian giant with nickel.

China pledged to continue financing exports of energy,
transportation, telecommunications and other equipment and to expand
imports of Cuban goods and services.

Cuba has two joint venture pharmaceutical companies in China and a
third company providing low-cost eye surgery, with others planned.

"Both parties agree to continue encouraging Chinese companies to
participate in the petroleum sector of Cuba," the statement said.

Chinese oil and gas company Sinopec Corp. is in a joint venture to
extract oil in Cuba's western Pinar del Rio province, and other
companies are considering offshore drilling in Cuba's Gulf of Mexico
waters.

The statement said a joint venture hotel in Shanghai would be
completed in time for the 2008 Olympics.

===================================================================
March 26, 2007
Venezuela and China Ink Agreements to Boost Strategic Integration
http://www2.minci.gob.ve/noticiaingles.asp?num=992
====================================================================

GRANMA
March 28, 2007

http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art22.html

Cuba-China Sign New Accords

Orfilio Pelaez
pelaez@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ties between Cuba and China received a boost on Tuesday in Havana at
the close of the 19th Intergovernmental Cuba-China Commission for
economic and commercial relations.

RICARDO CABRISAS, CUBAN MINISTER OF GOVERNMENT, AND WEI JIANGUO,
CHINESE VICE MINISTER OF COMMERCE SIGNED THE FINAL AGREEMENT OF THE
19TH INTERGOVERNMENTAL CUBA-CHINA COMMISSION.

Ricardo Cabrisas, Cuban minister of Government, and Wei Jianguo,
Chinese vice minister of Commerce signed the agreement reached at the
meeting which entails ways to expand and diversify exchange during
2007.

China is currently Cuba's second leading trade partner after
Venezuela. In 2006, bilateral exchange doubled from 2005.

Under the latest accord, Cuba will continue to receive Chinese
assistance for priority programs, with emphasis on the island's
energy and fuel savings effort, as well as new funds for a variety of
projects.

The two countries expressed satisfaction with the first
ophthalmologic cooperation program underway and prioritized an
expansion of joint investments in biotechnology and tourism.

The meeting highlighted that Cuba has meet all its financial
obligations with China and the importance of cooperation to
Modernize Cuba's telecommunications and electronic systems.

Other contracts signed on Tuesday included one for the delivery of
Cuban sugar to China during 2007, an agreement on economic and
technical cooperation and one to continue the project of Chinese
assistance in aquiculture.

During their stay in Cuba, the official Chinese delegation led by Wei
Jianguo met with Vice President Carlos Lage Davila, ministers Yadira
Garcia Vera (Basic Industry), Jorge Luis Sierra (Transportation) and
Felipe Perez Roque (Foreign Affairs) and other Communist Party and
government leaders.

.

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