Brazil and Cuba sign multiple bilateral agreements

Brazil and Cuba signed three joint documents during President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s visit to Havana this weekend, including a protocol for cooperation in health and science and technology.

This was the first official visit by a Brazilian president to Cuba since 2014, when then-President Dilma Rousseff inaugurated the renovated port of Mariel (50 kilometers west of Havana), which was upgraded with funding from the Brazilian government. 

Cuba currently owes Brazil about USD 1.1 billion, of which USD 538 million is in arrears.

The governments signed a letter of intention to establish an agricultural development cooperation program. A separate agreement signed by the two countries’ health ministers aims to promote “production, research, development, and innovation, ensuring equitable access to medicines, vaccines, diagnostics, medical devices, equipment, and other health technologies.”

In a statement, Brazil’s Health Minister Nísia Trindade said the agreement “resumes agreements with Cuba for the joint development of products and innovations in vaccines, from medicines for chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s and diabetes to new medicines for gastritis developed with sugarcane.”

Science and Technology Minister Luciana Santos, a member of the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), said the agreement could help the country reduce its USD 20 billion annual trade deficit in medicines.

At the end of the Group of 77 and China summit in Havana, member countries also issued a declaration on the challenges developing countries face in accessing science and technology. 

The text calls on the international community and bodies of the United Nations to take action “to promote unhindered, timely, and equitable access for developing countries to health-related measures, products, and technologies necessary to deal with the current and future pandemic prevention preparedness and responses.”

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