Debt restructuring and energy agreements have been the main achievements that Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has exposed after his unusual tour of Algeria, Turkey, Russia and China, where he has also worked on political alliances.
His trip, accompanied by six key ministers of his Government, is understood as a strategic move at a critical moment for Cuba, which has been suffering a serious economic and energy crisis for months, problems with long-term solutions and not always in the hands of La Havana.
"There is a provision and there is a specification to begin to restructure the debt and to give us payment facilities that allow us to move forward and not slow down a series of projects"assured Díaz-Canel in his first statements after returning to Cuba.
In this sense, the interlocutors of the Cuban president in Algeria and Russia have publicly positioned themselves in recent days. Díaz-Canel, for his part, stressed that his country "has the will, willingness and duty to honor the debt".
Another axis of the conversations was the energy area, of the "stable fuel supply" to projects for "to improve the situation in the country’s thermoelectric plants and to advance in the implementation of renewables on the island, indicated Díaz-Canel.
Finally, the president highlighted the interest in "create robust banking-financial infrastructures" that allow exchanges between these countries while evading US sanctions on Cuba and some of those other states, such as Russia.
"Cuba is not alone"Diaz-Canel stressed.
ALGERIA
The President of Algeria, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, announced the cancellation of outstanding interest on Cuba’s debt and the postponement of debt repayment "until new notice". The exact amount of what Cuba owes is not public.
Algeria also donated a solar energy plant to Cuba and, as the main exporter of crude oil to Cuba in all of Africa, it announced that it will resume the shipment of hydrocarbons to the island.
In January 2018, Cuba agreed to expand the export of medical services to Algeria and confirmed that it would receive new oil supplies from that country.
RUSSIA
In Moscow, Díaz-Canel stressed that Cuba would comply with its financial obligations with Russia "as soon as the economic situation eases up a bit and that is possible"according to local media.
Cuba’s current debt to Russia is determined by the agreement reached by the two governments in 2014, whereby Moscow forgave 90% of the 32 billion dollars that Havana owed it from Soviet times.
Between 2006 and 2019, Russia also granted Cuba export credits worth 2.3 billion dollars.
Since the beginning of 2020, Cuba practically froze payments due to its economic difficulties. Last February, the Russian Parliament approved extending the repayment of the credits until 2027 in exchange for an additional delay of 11 million dollars.
CHINA
In his meeting with Díaz-Canel, Chinese President Xi Jinping assured that his country "will do its best to provide support" to Cuba before the "great challenges" that faces.
The first concrete consequence of these words was the donation of 100 million dollars that, as explained by the Deputy Prime Minister of Cuba, Alejandro Gil, will go to "priorities".
Gil also explained that twelve legal instruments were signed and highlighted those related to "the reopening of new financing". Among them, the investment in a floating dock sent from China to Cuba in 2019 and the financing of a wind farm and a photovoltaic solar park stand out.
According to the vice premier, the Chinese side showed "comprehension" regarding Cuba’s debt, the amount of which was not specified.
TURKEY
Turkey and Cuba pledged to increase the bilateral trade volume to 200 million dollars, mainly due to investments by the European country on the island.
Cooperation with Turkey – which is not a historical political ally like the other three destinations on the tour – could be extended to biopharmaceutical issues – such as vaccine production – and agriculture.
The Turkish company Karadeniz has leased seven floating power plants to Cuba in recent years. The last one docked just two weeks ago in the port of Havana, as an emergency measure due to the prolonged blackouts that the island is suffering.