The Skolkovo Foundation took its ongoing cooperation with Cuba to a new level on Friday with a visit by the island nation’s second-in-command, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez.
Bermudez, first vice president of Cuba’s State Council and Council of Ministers, met with Skolkovo Foundation president Viktor Vekselberg to discuss expanding the cooperation between Skolkovo and Cuba’s innovative enterprises and universities.
Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez (left) meeting with Viktor Vekselberg (centre) and Alexander Kuleshov (right).
The visit of Cuban President Raul Castro’s first deputy to Skolkovo follows a trip by Vekselberg to Cuba, and several visits to Skolkovo by Cuban ministerial delegations. Skolkovo’s biomed cluster is already successfully working on joint projects with Cuban biotech companies.
On Wednesday, Bermudez, tipped by some to be the next Cuban leader, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss bilateral trade and economic cooperation, including in the areas of telecoms and information, biopharmaceuticals and transport infrastructure.
At Skolkovo on Friday, Bermudez also met with the foundation’s senior vice president for innovations, Vasily Belov, and Anton Yakovenko, head of construction, questioning them on issues related to Skolkovo as a possible model for the creation of a Cuban technopark.
Bermudez took a tour around the Skolkovo innovation centre, including a visit to the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech), where he met with its president Alexander Kuleshov to discuss possible areas of cooperation. Kuleshov previously met with former Cuban President Fidel Castro during a visit to the island.
Bermudez, a former electrical engineer who was a university professor before entering a career in politics, said it would be an honour for his country for Cuban students to study at Skoltech, an idea supported by Kuleshov. About 20 percent of Skoltech’s students are foreign, and all the programmes are taught in English.