[NYTr] 2007 a Fruitful Year in Cuban-Chinese Economic Relations

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN)
http://ainch.ain.cu/mailman/listinfo/ingles

2007 a Fruitful Year in Cuban-Chinese Economic Relations

Havana, Dec 21 (acn) Cuban Government Minister Ricardo Cabrisas said on 
Thursday in Beijing that 2007 was a fruitful year in the development of 
bilateral economic relations between Cuba and China.

Speaking in the plenary session of the 20th China-Cuba 
Intergovernmental Commission that took place in the Chinese capital, 
Cabrisas recalled that both countries cooperate and have good relations 
in many fields such as trade, biotechnology, agriculture, 
communications, education, public health and science.

According to Prensa Latina news agency, Cabrisas and the Chinese Deputy 
Minister of Trade, Wei Jianguo, signed the final accord of the meeting 
that includes the results of bilateral cooperation in 2007 and the 
priorities for 2008.

The Cuban Minister of Information Technologies and Telecommunications, 
Ramiro Valdes, also participated in the commission. Valdes is in China 
for a working visit that includes talks with Chinese political and 
government officials and also with businesspeople.

The Cuban delegation also included the island's ambassador to Beijing, 
Carlos Miguel Pereira and the vice ministers of Information 
Technologies, Alberto Rodriguez Arufe, and Foreign Investment, Ramon 
Ripoll.

During the meeting, it was announced that there was a 23% growth in the 
bilateral trade in the year 2007, which makes China the second 
commercial partner of Cuba, only behind Venezuela, and the first client 
of Cuban products.

For their part, the Chinese authorities noted that Cuba is their main 
commercial partner in the Caribbean and is among the top ten in Latin 
America.

In this session, Cuba introduced a formal petition for the use in local 
projects of soft loans offered by the Asian giant during the 2nd 
China-Caribbean Forum held earlier this year.