EFE/14 ymedio, Havana, 12 March 2024 — The Cuban Deputy Prime Minister, Ricardo Cabrisas, and the Turkish Minister of Commerce, Ömer Bolat, agreed on Tuesday in Turkey on a “road map” for bilateral economic-trade cooperation between 2024-2026, which includes the energy area, a key aspect for Havana.
The visit of Cabrisas, the Foreign Ministry reported in a statement, seeks to review the state of economic, commercial, financial and cooperation relations, examine the existing potentials for their development and give continuity to the political dialogue “at the highest level” between the two Governments.
Bolat stated on social networks that the agreement includes a “41-point action plan” that covers areas such as trade, investments, legal infrastructure, industry, technical cooperation, finance, transport, energy, agriculture, health and medicine, culture, tourism and education.
“We clearly see the growing interest of our entrepreneurs in the Cuban market, after our trade volume increased by approximately 60% last year, reaching 81 million dollars,” the Turkish minister added.
He also pointed out that the agreed agenda “exhaustively describes the steps that must be taken within two years to further strengthen trade and economic relations” between the two countries.
“We clearly see the growing interest of our entrepreneurs in the Cuban market, after our trade volume increased by approximately 60% last year, reaching 81 million dollars”
In the area of energy, bilateral cooperation has been strengthened in recent years, and one of its reference points is the income received by the Turkish companies Karpowership and Karadeniz Holding from the Cuban Government for seven floating power plants.
Turkish power platforms (’patanas’) have been a palliative in the face of the acute crisis caused by the lack of generation capacity in the Cuban electricity system, which has seven obsolete Soviet plants active, many of them with problems, and also suffers from fuel shortages.
The visit of Cabrisas, considered an experienced negotiator, coincides with a moment when Cuba suffers a new wave of blackouts, mainly due to the fuel deficit and breakdowns, as explained by the island’s authorities.
Since the end of January, the energy deficit has been between 20% and 45% of the maximum demand, which means blackouts of up to 18 hours in some regions of the Island. The Electric Union reported that for the maximum demand time of this Tuesday, an impact of 1,105 megawatts is estimated.
Meanwhile, blackouts continue to spread in the Cuban capital. On social networks, the Electric Company of Havana has published the impact by blocks, but, unlike the other provinces, the power outages only last four hours and include the hours from 10 am to 2 pm and from 7 pm to 9 pm.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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