Mehdi Safari, who serves as Iranian deputy foreign minister for economic diplomacy, said that Iran and Cuba have been pursuing swap agreements as a major part of their trade and economic discussions in recent weeks.

“Swap with Cuba is being seriously pursued and it has been agreed that we import the grains we need in return for exporting oil in a systematic manner,” Safari was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency.

Iran has reached similar swap deals with trade partners since the country came under American sanctions in 2018. The unilateral sanctions were meant to minimize Iran’s ability to freely sell its oil in the international markets.

Although oil sales have rebounded in recent months in defiance of US sanctions, Iranian government authorities still insist they will pursue barter deals with other countries to help boost trade with the rest of the world.

Safari said Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji raised the issue of barter trade with Cuba during a trip to the country last month.

He suggested a final agreement on the issue had been reached over the past two days during the 18th session of the Iran-Cuba Joint Economic Commission held in Tehran.

Safari said that Iran views Cuba as a main gateway for its exports to countries in the Central and Latin America region.

Meanwhile yesterday Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ehsan Khandouzi Seyed Ehsan Khandouzi in meeting with Cuban Deputy Prime Minister and President’s Special Envoy Mr. Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz called for boosting cooperation between the two states.

Khandouzi said that the Islamic Republic of Iran has always been seeking long term and sustainable economic relations with the Latin American states and especially with Cuba.

He said that considering the background of excellent political cooperation between the two states, Cuba is very important for Iran. He then pointed to the history of cooperation between the two states in the fields of health and agriculture and emphasized necessity for improving economic relations and said that it is expected with implementation of agreements,  the cooperation between the two countries would broaden. He also called for finalizing the agreements for incentives and mutual support of investment and avoiding from getting double tax.

Then Cabrisas, for his part, highlighted his country’s plans for broadening economic development and priorities to reach economic development cooperation and enumerated negative factors effecting Cuban economy like economic sanctions or COVID pandemic and emphasized that climate and Ukraine war have overshadowed Cuba’s food security.

He then announced readiness of Cuba for using Iran’s experience and technology in implementing important economic projects.

Cabrisas also pointed to the high capacities of agro, health, energy and medical sectors as well as the capability of the Iranian companies and called for increasing the long term economic cooperation between the two countries.

Cabrisas arrived on Friday in this capital on an official visit heading the Caribbean island’s delegation to the 18th Session of the Iran-Cuba Intergovernmental Commission.

The Cuban delegation included the Minister of Energy and Mines, Livan Arronte, and deputy ministers of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment and Food Industry, Deborah Rivas and Diorgys Hernandez, respectively.

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Head of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mine and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Mr.  Gholam-Hossein Shafei met with Cuba’s Ambassador to Tehran Alberto Gonzalez Casals and during the meeting both sides called for enhancing economic cooperation through resolving problems and launching direct flights between the two countries.

In the meeting, Shafei pointed to the meeting of Iran-Cuba Joint Economic Commission which will convene next month in Tehran and called for defining a certain model for improving economic cooperation at Iran Chamber of Commerce and this model is signed in the form of a MoU during the joint commission meeting in order that economic cooperation between the two countries would continue in an organized way.

He deplored that Tehran and Havana despite having deep political ties do not have strong economic ties, adding that the common pain of Iran and Cuba is their experience of the U.S. sanctions and since both countries have experience in circumventing these sanctions, sharing these experiences can be useful for both sides.

Shafei also called for exchange of economic and trade information between the two states, adding that lack of information has hurt boosting economic cooperation between the two states. He reiterated that ICCIMA like Iran’s government seeks boosting the level of economic ties with Cuba, adding that due to relatively improvement of the pandemic, the chamber is ready for dispatch of trade delegations to Cuba.

Then Cuban Ambassador to Tehran Mr. Casals, for his part, deplored that the trade ties of Iran and Cuba have not progressed well like their political ties, adding that this trend should be corrected and Cuba is ready for cooperation with Iran.

He added that cooperation between the two states will help circumventing the U.S. sanctions and this is his main task. He added that Cuba needs Iran’s help in the energy sector as the two countries had good cooperation during producing COVID vaccine and it should continue. He reiterated that Cuba is eager to have more cooperation with Tehran in the pharmaceutical sector to enjoy Iran’s experiences. He noted that Cuba also needs cooperation with Iran in the fields of mining, agriculture, food industries, renovating factories and equipment.

Casals also invited Iran’s private sector to attend an exhibition to be held in Cuba with participation of over 80 countries, adding that Cuba likes Iran to have the biggest pavilion in the exhibition to put on display all of its products.

He also called for cooperation in the tourism sector, adding that the direct flight between Tehran and Havana should be launched, adding that for now, both sides can start with chartered monthly flights and it is better to start with a flight carrying Iranian traders for attending the exhibition.

Casals announced readiness of the embassy for accelerating visa process and it is also ready to issue visa card which will be to the benefit of traders and tourists.

Then Shafei then reiterated that transportation is one of the most important problems for enhancing trade ties between the two states, adding that direct flight will have great impact on tourism and even the shuttle of traders and both sides should work on it.

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