Governments of Cuba and France to Strengthen Cooperation

HAVABA, Cuba, Feb 1 (acn) The governments of Cuba and France signed on Monday several bilateral cooperation instruments in various sectors, in the context of the state visit to that European country of the President of the Cuban councils of State and Ministers, Raul Castro, Prensa Latina reported.

Standing out among the agreements is one related to the treatment of the island's debt, which was preceded by the agreement reached on this subject on December 12 between Cuba and the Paris Club.
With this agreement more favorable conditions are created for the development of financial relations and the implementation of new joint projects and plans, said Raul Castro said during statements to the press from the Elysee Palace along with his French counterpart, Francois Hollande.
The two parties also signed on Monday a joint agenda for the planning and monitoring of economic, commercial, cooperation and investment ties in the medium and long-term.
Likewise, two declarations of intent were signed. The first one related to cooperation in tourism and the second one concerning the development of fair trade.
Also signed was a declaration of cooperation between the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment and the French Development Agency, on the negotiations for the establishment and activities of the Agency on the island, as well as a similar instrument in the railroad transportation sector.
"We want to go further in bilateral cooperation, boosting a great cultural cooperation, university exchanges," said Hollande.
The president stressed the existence of very significant cooperation in the field of medicine.
Cuba has physicians not only for Cuba but for the world. Every time a health crisis or an epidemic arises, it sends its doctors, he underlined.