Cuba and Portugal hold high level meeting

HAVANA, Cuba, May 7 (ACN) Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, vice-president of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Economy and Planning, received this Monday Manuel de Heredia Caldeira Cabral, Minister of Economy, Tourism and Industries of Portugal, who is visiting Cuba and presiding over the delegation participating in the Cuba-Portugal Business Forum, organized by the Cuban Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Caldeira was accompanied by the Ambassador of Portugal, Mr. Fernando d'Orey de Brito e Cunha Figueirinhas, and other officials from the Ministry of Economy, Tourism and Industry of Portugal and the Portuguese Embassy in Cuba.
During the meeting, Minister Caldeira confirmed the interest in further strengthening bilateral economic relations with Cuba and taking advantage of the coverage of the business forum to link companies from both countries in joint investment projects.
Cabrisas thanked the Portuguese minister for his government's growing interest in strengthening political, economic and cooperation ties between the two countries.
He also referred to the process of updating the Cuban economic and social model and the Economic and Social Development Plan up to 2030, as well as the impact of climate change on the island, which has had its most recent expression in the acute drought that affected the country, followed by the damage caused by Hurricane Irma, and the harmful effect of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed for more than 50 years by the United States government, which has seriously affected the national economy.
On the Cuban side, Inalvis Bonachea González, Director of Trade Policy with Europe at the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, and Isaac Hernández Pérez, Director of the Central Bank of Cuba, also participated.