Cuba invites India to explore its resource rich areas

NEW DELHI: Reeling under severe financial sanctions, Cuba today sought India's help in exploiting its vast natural resource base and as well as enhanced economic cooperation with it and other BRIC countries.

"India is a world leader in the field of Information and Satellite technology which they can use to cooperate with us in exploration of resource rich regions in our country," Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said delivering a lecture here.

Blaming embargoes and economic sanctions for Cuba's current economic situation, he said that the country is in the process of adopting the 'modern culture' into its society.

"We wish to seek a higher level of economic cooperation with the India and the other BRIC nations, which we consider to be valuable," he said.

Parrilla said the Latin American country which is facing severe economic crisis is in the process of implementing economic reforms.

"We are trying to bring in a lot of changes in Cuba, including the abolition of the two currency system and encouraging investments from small private entities and cooperative societies," he said.

On ties with the United States, which according to Parrilla are a major setback to its economic growth, he said that "the relations are stuck in the Cold War era and there is no reason for it to remain so".

He rued that there has been no effort on the part of the US to make it better.

Asked about the US including Cuba in the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, he said, "Anyone who is in their senses will not believe that. There is no reason for the US to include us in that".

Offering to cooperate with India in the pharmaceutical sector, he said that Cuba and other Latin American countries who are a part of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) have considerable amount of expertise and resources to offer to Indian companies.