[CLAESSENS Joris]

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door tomm

South or, if we speak more broadly, Latin America is a unique civilisation that is close to us in spirit and culture. We are all inspired by the work of the great Colombian writer and philosopher Gabriel Garc�*a Márquez, and we admire the work of the outstanding Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.

The history of Latin America's fight for independence, for the right to decide its own fate deserves great respect. In our country, people know well of the legendary Bol�*var and Mart�*, Che Guevara and Salvador Allende.

Today, cooperation with Latin American states is one of the key and very promising lines of Russia’s foreign policy.

We are interested in strong, economically stable and politically independent, united Latin America that is becoming an important part of the emerging polycentric world order. In this region, the traditions of love of freedom and respect for other nations and cultures are strong, and there are practically no serious intergovernmental conflicts or the wish to pursue the divide and rule policy. On the contrary, nations in the region are ready for joint action to protect their shared Latin American home.

At the heart of Russian-Cuban relations lies a long tradition of strong friendship, as well as rich – and in many ways unique – experience of fruitful cooperation. The Russian people have sincere affinity and respect for Cubans. I am convinced that these feelings are mutual.

Today, Cuba is one of Russia's leading partners in the region. Our cooperation is strategic and long-term oriented. We closely coordinate our foreign policy, including within multilateral organisations. Our positions coincide on many global and regional issues.

The main objective of our bilateral agenda is to expand our economic relations on the basis of the intergovernmental Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation Programme for 2012–2020. We are working on some major projects in industry and high technologies, energy, civil aviation, the peaceful use of outer space, medicine and biopharmaceuticals.

n particular, in August 2013, Zarubezhneft started drilling the first development well in the Boca de Jaruco oilfield.

Our short-term prospects include the development of new oilfields in the Cuban offshore area. To these ends, Zarubezhneft and Rosneft engage in active cooperation with Cupet, Cuba’s state oil company.

INTER RAO is planning to join the construction of power units for the Maximo Gomez and East Havana TPP. The supply of Russian electric power equipment to Cuba is well underway.

We consider it our priority to develop ties in these areas. Tens of thousands of Cubans have studied in Russia. Annually, we give Cuban students the opportunity to study at Russian universities with the expenses covered by the state budget.

Our bilateral cooperation is of strategic importance, as Brazil is a responsible member of the international community whose political influence is steadily increasing; it is also the largest country in Latin America and one of the leading economies in the world.It is enough to mention its active participation in BRICS, the G20 and a number of Latin American regional organisations (CELAC, MERCOSUR, UNASUR).

I want to emphasise that Brazil is one of Russia's key partners in Latin America. We have long-standing relations of friendship, mutual respect and trust. We are actively developing political dialogue, defence, scientific, technological and humanitarian cooperation, as well as economic and investment ties.

Over the last ten years, bilateral trade has grown almost three-fold and reached $5.5 billion in 2013. Our companies maintain close contacts through the Brazil-Russia Business Council. The citizens of our countries no longer need visas to travel. Dozens of Russia's best universities that joined Brazilian educational programme Science without Borders are ready to welcome students from Brazil. Cultural exchanges have become a regular practice.

The 21st century world is globalised and interdependent. Therefore, no state or group of countries can unilaterally tackle major international problems and any attempts to build a separate “oasis of stability and security” are doomed to failure.

In order to meet numerous challenges and threats we have to stop trying to impose development models on other countries. This approach has repeatedly proven its ineffectiveness. It does not just fail to facilitate conflict resolution, but leads to instability and chaos in international affairs.

As for the facts of cyber espionage that you mentioned, it not only amounts to overt hypocrisy in relationships between allies and partners, but also a direct violation of the state's sovereignty, an infringement on human rights and an invasion of privacy. We are looking forward to jointly developing an international information security system.

http://rt.com/politics/official-word...latin-america/

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