China has donated some 100 million dollars to Cuba during an official visit by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, which has just concluded in the country, Cuban Vice Prime Minister Alejandro Gil announced this Saturday.
During the official talks that Díaz-Canel held this Friday with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, “the Chinese side made a donation to our country of the order of 100 million dollars,” Gil said, in statements made public by Cuban television. .
The one who is also Minister of Economy stressed that this donation was destined as a “priority” to the island’s economy, which is facing its worst economic crisis in three decades, and caused by the tightening of the United States embargo. , in force since 1962, and the consequences of the global pandemic of Covid-19.
Embargo
The Cuban president concluded an official visit to China this Friday, part of an international tour that has taken him to Algeria, Russia and Turkey with the ambition of strengthening the critical electricity sector, which has suffered a severe production crisis since May that has resulted in cuts power and fuel shortages.
Alejandro Gil announced that during the visit both countries signed “twelve legal instruments,” some of which are “related to the reopening of new financing” for Chinese investments in Cuba.
The parties also addressed the “debt issue” that the island has accumulated over “these (last) years” with China, the amount of which has not been disclosed.
Second trading partner of the island
“Our president explained the situation we are facing, the Chinese side has shown understanding and we will see each other’s positions together to find acceptable formulas for each of the countries, to ensure order and debt restructuring,” added Mr. .Gil .
China is the island’s second largest trading partner, after Venezuela, and an important political ally.
During Miguel Díaz-Canel’s visit to Algeria in mid-November, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced the resumption of fuel supplies to Cuba, the donation of a solar power plant, and the cancellation of interest on the Cuban debt, the amount of which it was not revealed either.
Source: BFM TV
