Strengthening bonds

BENGALURU: Think of Cuba and one immediately visualises images of Havana with charming old buildings, vintage cars and people spontaneously breaking into music and dance...just as we have seen in movies. Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz, Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, Republic of Cuba, confirms that the image is not very far from reality. Diaz was in the city for the India Cuba Business Conference, where he met various entrepreneurs. 

Cuba and India have had a history of warm relationships since the time of Fidel Castro. And Diaz says the ties are going strong as more and more trade relationships are coming up. “We already import Indian rice for our people, earlier it was from the Southeast Asian countries. There are contacts between Cuban enterprises and companies in the biopharmaceutical sector in India. We also buy raw materials that we incorporate to develop new products. In general, that is a good blend,” says Diaz, who left for New Delhi from Bengaluru. 

As Cuba’s prime source of income is tourism, Diaz mentions the pandemic had been a huge drawback for them.  “With the pandemic, we had two terrible years where the number of tourists almost dropped to zero. Now, we are recovering. In the first two months of 2023, we received half a million tourists. So we imagine that this recovery is going to continue until we reach the levels we used to have, around 5 million visitors a year,” says Diaz, adding, “It’s a quiet place and we have beautiful beaches. Tourism is the most dynamic sector of our economy. There is an Indian company today that manages several hotels. I believe we could work closely together. For instance, bringing guided flights from India to Havana brings in Indians from different regions.” 

A fan of tandoori chicken, Diaz light-heartedly mentions that there are Indian restaurants in Havana as well so that ‘Indians don’t have to miss their home food.’ Diaz feels India and Cuba have quite a few commonalities in terms of history, trade and even Caribbean food. “There are historical museums and the culture of the Cuban people is that we are very friendly, just like Indians. We have a long history of trading in cigars and rum,” says Diaz, who is hoping for more business opportunities with Indian entrepreneurs and hosting more Indians in their country.

Back in time 
In the early 1900s, when the Republic of Cuba was going through a crisis in wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse, India played a huge role in providing 10,000 tonnes of wheat and 10,000 tonnes of rice to feed Fidel Castro’s regime. Going further the gesture was known as the ‘Bread of India’.

Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz, Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, Republic of Cuba, who was in Bengaluru, speaks to CE about how culturally rich and similar Cuba and India are, and Indian companies supporting Cuba towards building tourism.