Medicines and farm machinery, a cooperation with concrete results
Díaz-Canel visited scientific and industrial institutions that support and increase collaboration with the IslandAuthor: René Tamayo León | internet@granma.cu
June 27, 2025 09:06:55
MTZ is one of the eight largest producers of tractors in the world, and covers around 10% of the world demand for this agricultural equipment. Photo: Estudios Revolución
MINSK.- The cooperation between Cuba and the Academfarm biotechnological company and the strengths and obstacles still facing these exchanges were analyzed by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.
The Head of State visited on Thursday morning the facilities of a scientific center promoted since 2009 by President Alexander Lukashenko to generate and produce new medicines, all of them innovative.
The entity has maintained relations with Cuban scientific institutions since 2023, after signing a Memorandum of Collaboration with BioCubaFarma in November of that year, in the context of the reception of Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz at the institution.
Since then, the relationship has evolved, including dialogues for the constitution of the Academsol joint venture with the Cuban MedSol, which will be a closed joint stock company, created for an indefinite period of time and operating as a commercial organization in accordance with the Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus. Both partners will have a 50 percent share in this partnership.
Academfarm executes five of the seven projects implemented by Biocubafarma and its Belarusian counterparts within the framework of the 18 projects between the island and the National Academy of Sciences of the sister nation, whose President Vladimir Karanik hosted the head of state during his stay at the center on Thursday.
Among the projects is that of Medsol for the finishing stage of medicines registered in Cuba, and another one on the supply of drugs through Medicuba; a third one is on the joint development of innovative preparations for the treatment of HIV, cancer, schizophrenia, anemia and other diseases.
The fourth project deals with regulatory authority registrations; and the fifth is about joint research with the Center for Molecular Immunology on the Simavax lung cancer vaccine.
Díaz-Canel underscored the relevance of his meeting with managers and specialists of the scientific institution as part of his official visit to the Republic of Belarus "to strengthen and expand the historic relations between our peoples".
He stressed the importance of knowing what is being done here. He described this cooperation as an interaction in the science and innovation sector, which, he explained, is one of the pillars of government management in the largest island of the Antilles to solve the main problems it faces.
It is a management of science and innovation, he said, which also includes external cooperation. "And what could be better than to develop these links with a friendly country, a brother country", he emphasized.
The president reaffirmed his conviction that Cuba and Belarus can further deepen their ties in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, as he verified the day before at the Belmedpreparaty company and the exhibition organized for him at the headquarters of this institute by the local state-owned pharmaceutical holding company.
The Caribbean statesman recalled words he shared the day before with President Alexander Lukashenko, who said that our two countries, despite being punished by the hegemonic powers, cannot stop at the sanctions they suffer, but must move forward in cooperation and find solutions to our problems. And it is this concept - emphasized Díaz-Canel - that should guide us to advance also in science and innovation.
The head of state pondered how Belarus has its own innovative technologies for the generation of biopharmaceuticals, which can be complemented with Cuba's development in these areas.
He referred to "the many expectations, hopes and satisfaction" that come from the fact that the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and several Cuban institutions have 18 projects to manage the challenges of the economy and society, due to their holistic approach.
These are projects -he added- that are going well and that in a short time will yield important results. These are samples -he added- that speak of the political will and the potential we have to work together. What we cannot do," he warned, "is to stop, what we cannot do is to stop".
Yuriy Mikitski, General Director of Academpharm, explained that the origin of the scientific-pharmaceutical company lies in a recommendation of President Lukashenko to the National Academy of Sciences to face an acute flu epidemic in 2009, whose best palliative was a highly expensive drug of U.S. origin. "And in two years," he recalled, "we managed to produce a drug for the welfare and health of our people.
HOW TO START UP A BIG MACHINE On Thursday, during which he also took part in the high-level segment of the 4th Eurasian Economic Forum, the Cuban President visited the Minsk tractor factory, the iconic industry producer of MTZ tractors, of which there are about 45,000 in Cuba that, acquired over half a century, due to their age require major repairs and restorations.
Founded on May 29, 1946, MTZ is one of the eight largest tractor producers in the world. It covers around ten percent of the world's demand for such agricultural equipment.
The Minsk Tractor Works, which employs about 30,000 people, has produced more than three million tractors, of which more than 500,000 have been exported to about 100 countries.
Today they have more than 60 models of different types of machines, in more than one hundred variants for all climatic and operating conditions, according to their managers informed the President of the Island.
The Belarusian specialists described as positive the recent experience with the assembly of a dozen MTZ tractors at the Empresa Mecánica Héroes del 26 de Julio, in Holguín (Holmeca), an initiative that will now be expanded with about fifty of these machines. The purpose is for this to be the beginning of a much broader cooperation.
Taking advantage of Díaz-Canel's visit to the tractor plant, where the Cuban delegation was accompanied by the Minister of Industry, Alexander Yefimov, the authorities prepared an exhibition attended by about a dozen entities that lead the powerful Belarusian industry for the manufacture of agricultural machinery and implements, work vehicles and specialized transport.
Along with the president, toured the exhibition the member of the Political Bureau and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla; Emilio Lozada García, Head of the Department of International Relations of the Central Committee; Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, and Santiago Pérez Benítez, Cuban Ambassador to Belarus, among other members of the delegation.
In the voice of their main managers, the Cuban visitors were informed about the productions of several legendary companies, such as Belaz, with its large trucks for the transportation of minerals; MAZ, a well-known brand in Cuba; Amkomp, specialized in equipment for the construction sector; GZPD, manufacturer of diesel engines for different uses; and GOMSELMASH, producer of simple and complex equipment, such as large grain harvesters, among others.
The managers of the Belarusian companies, many of which have a long history of collaboration with Cuba, expressed their interest in maintaining and increasing these links and thus complying with the agreements reached by Presidents Alexander Lukashenko and Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.
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