Saudi Arabia's US$193.3 Million To Support "Health, Water And Infrastructure" Projects Indirectly Benefits Expanding Saudi Arabia Relations With China, Which Supports Cuba.
/Arab News
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
26 December 2021
Saudi Fund for Development inaugurates $40m water and sewage rehabilitation project in Cuba
The project will provide access to safe water and sanitation, enhance livelihoods and provide food security for more than 270,000 people
RIYADH: A delegation from the Saudi Fund for Development inaugurated a project to rehabilitate the water and sewage system for Camaguey City in central Cuba on Saturday.
Valued at $40 million, the Water Supply and Sanitation Rehabilitation project will provide access to safe water and sanitation, enhance livelihoods and provide food security for more than 270,000 people. The project also aims to raise the efficiency of drinking water systems and improve health and environmental levels and social and economic development support. Vice Governor of Camaguey Carmen Maria Hernandez Requejo praised the Kingdom’s contributions through the SFD in supporting and developing infrastructure projects in Cuba. She also praised the project’s positive impact, which will help reduce the spread of disease caused by unclean water in Camaguey’s population.
The #SFD delegation inaugurated today, the Water Supply & Sanitation Rehabilitation project in Camaguey City, #Cuba. Valued at $40 million, the funded project will provide access to safe water & sanitation, enhance livelihoods and food security for more than 300,000 beneficiaries pic.twitter.com/VOJahRr7ml الصندوق السعودي للتنمية (@SaudiFund_Dev) December 25, 2021
Saudi Ambassador to Cuba Faisal Al-Harbi praised Saudi-Cuban relations and highlighted the developmental role that the Kingdom, through the fund, plays in contributing to support sustainable development. He said that Saudi Arabia’s contributions to development are not limited to international organizations and that his country works bilaterally with many others without discrimination. The fund’s director general of Asia operations and head of the visiting delegation, Dr. Saud Al-Shammari, said the project is one of the most important financed by the SDF in infrastructure, as it supports achieving the sixth goal of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, “ensuring sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.” He added the project is part of a comprehensive program for Camaguey City to be implemented in several phases, constituting its first phase. On the sidelines of the visit, the delegation held meetings with Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz and a number of officials to follow up on the progress of development projects financed by the fund. The delegation concluded its visit with a trip to the King Salman Mosque project in Havana, which aims to enhance bilateral cultural and social ties.
Over the past years, the SDF has funded seven projects in Cuba in the health, water and infrastructure sectors, at a total cost of $193.3 million, in addition to a $9.3 million grant managed by the fund for constructing the King Salman Mosque. The fund also contributed to providing support to the Cuban economy through the Saudi Export Support Program. In 2016, it signed an agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment in Cuba for a total amount of $50 million to import plastic and metal products, agricultural materials and equipment.
China Daily
Beijing, China
28 December 2021
Victor Gao, chair professor at Soochow University in Jiangsu province, noted recently that China is a major power country in the world, especially in new and renewable energy like wind and solar. "And in this regard, China can definitely share its experience with Cuba in many ways, including very interestingly in oil and gas exploration and production," he told CGTN America. "Cuba is very geographically located in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, and we believe that Cuba actually has large reserves in oil and in gas, but new and renewable energy will be more important because of the climate change impact." In May 2015 the Chinese Export-Import Bank approved a $60 million loan for Cuba to build a biomass plant, which Shanghai Electric took over in 2017. The plant is already connected to the national grid. It is just one small but significant step toward clean energy transition in the country. Shanghai Electric and its joint venture partner Hive Energy also received $160 million from the Export-Import Bank to salvage a photovoltaic park project in Cuba. Venezuela, Bolivia and Suriname have also joined the 31-member BREP.
