OREANDA-NEWS. October 22, 2012. Belarus is ready to participate in the modernization of the Cuban economy, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said as he met with Vice President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba Marino Murillo.

According to Alexander Lukashenko, the visit of the Cuban delegation to Belarus is aimed at developing agreements between the two heads of state reached during the recent official visit of the Belarus President to the Republic of Cuba. “We agreed then that a Cuban delegation will come to Belarus and we will consider all issues which will be put forward by the head of the delegation,” the head of state said.

“I know that Cuban authorities are interested in development avenues and the reformation system of our economy. I promised Raul Castro that we will tell about and show everything we do in Belarus. If you are interested in any area, we will definitely participate in the implementation of the project on the territory of Cuba like we did it in Venezuela,” Alexander Lukashenko noted.

In particular, agriculture is one of the promising cooperation avenues. The development of agriculture is one of the priorities in the process of economic modernization in Cuba. “Cuba has huge resources to upgrade the agricultural industry. These are at least USD1.5 billion dollars which Cuba annually spends to import foodstuffs and other products needed to develop agriculture. I think, downsizing this amount by one-two hundred million dollars per year and the substitution of imports by relevant Cuban-made goods would be a good source of financing and purchase of equipment, setting up associations, farms,” the head of state said.

“We are ready to take into account all your wishes and work in this direction,” Alexander Lukashenko said.

Belarus is also interested in a number of areas which are well-developed in Cuba. “Cuba is one of the richest countries regarding the development of healthcare, production of medicines. Today we have worked out and are implementing a similar program and we need your experience,” the Belarus President noted.

Marino Murillo, in turn, pointed out big interest in promoting Belarus-Cuba cooperation. “Our visit has a very busy and interesting schedule. We are very much interested in the transformation of the Belarusian economy and society. It is important that we saw these processes with our own eyes. Everything is well-organized,” the official said.

“I am confident that in the near future we can maintain contacts between ministries and specialists. This could be very useful for both countries. Still we need to work hard to find mutually beneficial areas for bilateral cooperation and launch certain projects,” Marino Murillo remarked.