ISTANBUL - Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade Raul de la Nuez Ramirez and accompanying delegation met representatives of several Turkish companies in Istanbul on Thursday.
Turkish companies were briefed about Cuba and its economy during the meeting.
Ramirez said, ''Cuban economy recorded great progress especially after 1994. Commercial deficit which was 7.4 percent in 1994 dropped to 3.5 in 2004. Also unemployment rate decreased to 1.9 percent last year.''
''Tourism has an important place in Cuban economy. 2,565,000 tourists visited Cuba in 2004,'' he added.
''Oil, food and machine are mainly imported items of Cuba,'' he noted.
Touching on commercial relations between Turkey and Cuba, Ramirez said, ''trade volume between two countries in 2004 was 8.6 million USD. Cuba's export to Turkey in 2004 was 2.4 million USD. Import from Turkey last year was 6.2 million USD.''
Ramirez said, ''there are various agreements between Turkey and Cuba. These agreements contribute to commercial relations between two countries.''