Cuba and France sign agreement to improve water sanitation

HAVANA, Cuba, Nov 2 (acn) The French Development Agency (AFD by its French acronym) and Cuba signed an agreement for a project for recovery in the water sanitation sector after the damage caused by Hurricane Irma on September 2017.

The document was signed in the context of the 36th International Fair of Havana (FIHAV 2018) by Patrice Paoli, France´s Ambassador in Cuba; Benedicte Garzon, AFD Latin American Department Deputy Director - on the French side - , and Rodrigo Malmierca, head of the Cuban Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Ministry.
The recovery project has a value of 20 million euros and aims to improve the quality of water and sanitation services in the country, and increase resilience to extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and droughts.
This fact is the fruit of France's interest in contributing to the recovery of the devastating effects caused by Irma, and confirms the willingness of both countries to strengthen bilateral economic relations.
Malmierca stressed that relations with the European nation have been strengthened in the last year, economic ties have been deepened and a reflection of this is that bilateral trade is growing by more than 20 percent in 2018.
He also noted the participation of French companies in large foreign investment projects, which include one at the Havana airport and others focused on the Mariel Special Development Zone.
At the moment we have 10 projects that are in some kind of joint analysis, including this one, and we have also made progress in negotiating an agreement with France to finance medium and long-term operations, he added.
We believe that the strengthening of commercial relations will help in the path that Cuba has chosen to update its economic model, advance in diversification, be able to export more and import efficiently, the Cuban minister stated.
Meanwhile, Paoli expressed the will to continue constructively and jointly moving forward and stressed that the 32 French companies attending the event cover the sectors of industry, construction, cosmetics, consumer goods and railway, and specified the aspiration that this edition of FIHAV to lead to numerous and fruitful collaborations between France and Cuba.
Finally, he thanked the local authorities by giving them the possibility of having a space for French companies to exhibit their products and services in the Caribbean island.