New Delhi
3 May 2007
India will seek to strengthen her relationship with Cuba when New
Delhi receives two delegations from Havana this month. The visits will come at a time
when India's strengthening relationship with Iran, which, like Cuba, has strained
relations with the United States, has not gone down well in Washington.
Cuban Minister of Foreign Relations Felipe Perez Roque visited India last month.
Ambassador of Cuba to India Juan F Carretero Ibanez on Thursday said that the vice
president of Cuban parliament will arrive in New Delhi on a five-day visit to India, on
Saturday. The vice president of National Institute of Sports will visit India later this
month for signing of protocol of cooperation with Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
India, which has two oil blocks in Cuba's exclusive maritime zone in the Gulf of Mexico,
will diversify her cooperation into sports and renewable energy when New Delhi plays
host to Cuban coaches in various disciplines of sports and Union Minister of State for
Non-Conventional Energy Vilas Muttemwar travels to Havana later this month.
Mr Ibanez told this newspaper, "Experts from Cuba will visit India to diagnosis of Indian
sport and to improve it. Cuba will send coaches depending on the request of Government
of India ... in boxing, volleyball, baseball and track and field events. Experts from India
will visit Cuba on a reciprocal basis to teach cricket and hockey."
"Sport [will be] the starting point of cooperation," he said. Biotechnology and energy are
two other areas that have been identified for cooperation. ONGC Videsh Limited, a
subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has two blocks in Cuba. A
consortium of Indian, Spanish and Norwegian companies has oil blocks too.
The envoy said that Cuba's relations with the US would have to normalise sooner than
later. "Our differences are with the imperialist regime, not with the US people ... we have
lots of friends in the US. The Cuban revolution will survive, (become) even stronger when
(US President George) Bush leaves White House next year," he added.
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