Russian and Cuban officials and business leaders have announced new perks to attract Russian investors to the Cuban market, in a move that reinforces their longstanding political alliance. Boris Titov, head of the Russian delegation to the Cuba-Russia Economic Commission, made the announcement at a forum in Havana. Titov reported Cuba had offered Russian companies the right to use Cuban land for a 30-year term, an unusually long concession for a foreign company in a communist state. The country also said it would exempt Russian firms from import tariffs on certain technologies, which could benefit the state-led Cuban economy by letting Russian companies to repatriate their profits.
The two nations are looking at ways to improve transportation between themselves. “In Soviet times, ports and shipping were directly connected,” said Titov. “We are analyzing this possibility with the owners of Cuban ships.” Russia has moved in recent months to strengthen economic ties with Cuba and other Latin American countries, which oppose U.S. hegemonism. Ricardo Cabrisas, Cuban Foreign Trade Minister Cabrisas, noted that economic ties between Russia and Cuba were only strengthening. Bilateral trade between the two nations will reach $450 million in 2022, triple what it was in 2021. In the past year, 90% of that trade consisted of the sale of petroleum products and soybean oil.