Cuba’s President Concludes Visit to Iran

Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel concluded an official visit to Iran on December 5. The delegation’s hectic schedule of meetings with government, business executives, and solidarity groups, has resulted in the signing several important agreements.

These seven agreements are memorandums of understandings (MOUs), action plans and a joint statement, significant for boosting Cuba-Iran economic-trade ties and strengthening relations in several sectors.

Diaz-Canel also met with over 100 Iranian business owners where he presented Cuba’s business opportunities and exports and focused on expanding trade between the two countries.

The delegation also visited Iran’s Pasteur Institute, which holds a collaboration agreement with the Finlay Institute for the research and testing of the Soberana vaccine. That agreement has been in effect since January 2021. In the meeting, they shared results and confirmed the intention to continue developing joint projects.

As a result, the Pasteur and Finlay Institutes signed a contract that involves vaccine knowledge transfer, and the clinical, pre-clinical development of immunizers. Doctors Rahim Sorouri and Vicente Verez Bencomo, general directors of the two institutions, signed the agreement.

Vicente Vérez Bencomo, Director General of the Finlay Institute, said, “We are proposing to integrate more. They have vaccines that we can use in Cuba , even taking them to Latin America; we are going to take advantage to carry out clinical trials, use them here and in the region.”

As a result of the Iranian cooperation with the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), technology transfers such as the Hepatitis B vaccine, created one of the largest biotech complexes in the region,” said BioCubaFarma’s president, Dr. Eduardo Martínez Díaz.

He also added that the Pasteur Institute collaboration with the Finlay Institute had allowed the technology transfer of the Soberana vaccine which is manufactured in Iran under the name PastoCovac.

Signed Agreements:

• Cuba and Iran’s Ministers of Energy and Mines signed an MOU for energy cooperation and mines.
  In agriculture, Cuba and Iran’s Agriculture ministers signed an MOU in the livestock and fisheries sectors to enhance cooperation .
• Iran and Cuba’s deputy ministers of Health signed an Action Plan for implementing cooperation in Health and Medical Sciences.
• Cuban Ambassador Alberto González Casals and Dr. Mohammad Kansari signed an Action Plan in telecommunications, information technology, and postal services.
• Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla and his Iranian counterpart signed a further MOU in Science and Technology.
• Another MOU was signed between Iran’s Science, Technology and Knowledge-Based ministry and Cuba’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment. The goal of this agreement is to expand scientific and technological cooperation through joint projects in nanotechnology, biotechnology, and climate change. In addition, it includes the exchange of scientists and researchers to carry out projects and transfer or exchange technology in these areas. It also involves the ambition to hold conferences, forums, seminars, workshops, and training. And, furthermore, to establish a joint working committee and a science and technology center.