Cuba and Japan Sign Transport and Energy Agreements

Japan and Cuba have signed legal instruments in transport and energy. The agreements were signed by Antonio Luis Carricarte, Cuba’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, and the Japanese Ambassador to Havana, Kazuhiro Fujimura.

The first of the signed documents formalizes the granting of a donation of 2,392 million Japanese yen for the implementation of an energy supply project on the Isle of Youth. The second document signed involved a donation of 1,050 million Japanese yen for the purchase of urban buses for Havana as part of the Economic and Social Development Program.

Over the last three years, Cuba and Japan have boosted diplomatic and commercial relations. In 2016, Cuban President, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, at the time in the role of first vice president of the Councils of State and Ministers, made an official visit to Japan. Later that year, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe traveled to Havana to hold several high-level meetings.

In 2018, the Cuba-Japan Economic Conference took place which resulted in the identification of several areas of cooperation in waste management and agriculture.

Also in 2018, the third Japan-Cuba Joint Public-Private Committee protocol document was signed for a bilateral economic agenda until 2020.

Japan and Cuba have held diplomatic relations since 1902 and share common concerns including population aging, sustainable development and the impact of industry infrastructure and pollution on the environment.

Information source: ACN