MIGUEL Jorge, Brazilian minister of development, industry and trade, announced new investments by his country in Cuba, and told accredited reporters at FIHAV 2009 that "there is no way relations are going backward with the island," adding, "they have never been better."

By mid-December, as part of the cooperation between the two nations, a factory will begin to be set up for producing plate glass using Cuban silica sand, special for this type of production.

Other projects include a factory for making cans (for beer, soda and juice) and the modernization of another factory for the same purpose, with the goal of replacing imports to the island. Currently, Cuba is obliged to import 96% of what it needs in that line.

Cuban pharmaceutical companies have signed contracts with Brazilian ones, and their projects include the establishment in Brazil of a factory for pharmaceutical products using Cuban technology.

The Brazilian minister referred to joint operations to build a port near Mariel, west of Havana, still in the initial phase.

The Brazilian state oil company Petrobas is likewise carrying out seismic tests in the bloc it acquired last October from Cuba’s exclusive economic zone in the Gulf of Mexico for oil exploration and drilling.

Yesterday, Wednesday, was Vietnam Day at FIHAV, and a letter of intention was signed for assembling and marketing trucks, buses and light cars in Cuba, a process that includes consulting on the assembly of the first 200 vehicles.

The CIMEX S.A. corporation signed an export agreement with the Vietnamese company What Thang Co. LTD, which includes Cubita, Varadero and Caney rums, dried fruits and other products in high demand in that Asian country.