Russian-Cuban expert week ¡Rusia y Cuba juntos para siempre! was held in IPACS RANEPA
The Institute of Public Administration and Civil Service of RANEPA held a Russian-Cuban expert week 12–16 of December. It was attended by over 60 speakers from both Russian side and Cuban side.
Russian-Cuban Week is an annual international event aimed at strengthening relations between Russia and Cuba. The first expert discussion of the thematic week, which took place on December 13th, was devoted to the topic “Modern trends in digitalization of the financial market in Russia and Cuba”. Mercedes Delgado Fernandez, rector of the Higher School of State and Government Personnel of Cuba, greeted speakers with a welcoming speech. She stressed that Russian-Cuban relations are very important for both countries. The rector noted high level of organization of the event and thanked Russian colleagues.
Moderator of the event, Konstantin Nosachev, senior lecturer of the Department of Informatics and Applied Mathematics, IPACS RANEPA, welcomed the speakers and emphasized that digitalization is an important process, especially in financial management.
Beatriz Milián Sardiñas, general director of Central bank of Cuba, said “Modernization of the Cuban banking system is the main goal. There is an urgent need for specialists, so it is important to train new specialists, create new digital technologies and systems, and then implement them. A global technological leap is needed. In this regard, such events are very important and necessary, because we can learn experience of leading experts from both sides”.
Greicher La Nuez Gambino, CEO of the payment systems RED S.A., said that his company has already created 864 ATMs in Cuba, there are 10 million trades per month, 3 million of which are international. He also touched an important topic, said that tests are now underway to introduce the Russian payment system MIR. Then any person from Russia will be able to use the card in Cuba and become part of this system.
Mikhail Dubtsov, director for Digital Transformation of the Digital Development Center of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, said “The financial sector is highly regulated. New technologies that are being introduced must be in a clear legal field in order to achieve the maximum result”.
Andrey Filippov, deputy Director for International Cooperation, Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization “Digital Economy”, said “For the effective development of international relations, direct contacts between people are undoubtedly important, including between experts representing Cuba and Russia”.
Rosa Maria Abrante Fuz, director of payment systems at the Central Bank of Cuba; Dayamis Ohilsa Muñoz Riverón, General Director of the Economic Policy Department of the Central Bank of Cuba; José Carlos del Toro Rios, Director of Financial and Accounting Research, Ministry of Finance and Prices of Republic of Cuba also made presentations.
From Russian side reports were made by Ilya Marochenkov, portfolio manager PFL Advisors; Ekaterina Karelina, independent consultant, lecturer at IPACS RANEPA and representative of the Sector of Interdisciplinary Studies of the Institute of Phylosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Mikhail Ipatov, student for the Faculty of Personnel administration of organization and civil service.
The event was moderated by Karolina Sikirinskaya, International cooperation Department IPACS RANEPA, and Svetlana Laskovets, deputy Dean of the Faculty of International and Regional Research, IPACS RANEPA. They greeted speakers and noted that they hope for a mutual exchange of experience, an effective discussion and further cooperation in the direction of small and medium-sized businesses.
Vivian Herrera Cid, general director for Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment of the Republic of Cuba, presented report on the topic: “Single Window for Foreign Trade of Cuba (VUCE)”. She said “It is very important to develop entrepreneurship in modern conditions. The openness of the economy depends on foreign trade. I would like players in the market to become more mobile and flexible. We are open to discuss this technology, as it is still at the testing stage”.
Anabel Reloba Perez, CEO “Single Window for Foreign Investments” Department of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investments of the Republic of Cuba told about topic “Single window for foreign investment (VUINEX)”. She stressed “Our project covers the entire investment process. We started our work during the pandemic. We hope for the promising work of a “Single Window for foreign Investments”, as this mechanism allows you to quickly carry out procedures for the direction of investors. The work is carried out through special Internet platforms”.
Luis Carlos Gongora, general director of Foreign Relations and Foreign Trade of the Government of Havana presented his report on such important topic as “The role of small and medium-sized enterprises in local development in Cuba”. He noted that for Cuba, as for any state, small and medium-sized businesses are very important. After all, these areas are the key engines of economic progress.
Daniel Torralbas Socorro, Specialist, Business Entity Regulation Department, Ministry of Economy and Planning of the Republic of Cuba; Maykel David Ruenes Correa, Business Director of the Science and Technology Park of Havana; Pearl Rosales del Toro, deputy Director of the Historiador Office of Havana presented their reports.
Yulia Alferova, general director of ANO “National Agency for Entrepreneurship Development”, ex-adviser of Minister of Economic Development for Small and Medium Enterprises, said “Features of the formation and functioning of the national ecosystem for the development of entrepreneurship. Our main task is to provide legal support for entrepreneurship in accordance with current trends and tendencies”.
Andrey Yakimov, Head of the International Cooperation Department of the Moscow Innovation Cluster Foundation, said “We attract investments and provide financial support to SMBs. An important area of our activity is technology competitions. Such events allow us to develop startups, find investors and meet the needs of corporations”.
Also, Russian side was represented by Sergey Fedoreev, Head of the online investment platform “vDelo”; Alexander Zaitcev, Head of Business Services Center “Small Business of Moscow”.
Final expert discussion on the theme “Formation of innovative ecosystems: development of technology parks, technopolises and clusters” was held on December 15. The moderator was Aruna Dzhumasova, clerk of the International Cooperation Department of the IPACS RANEPA, and thanked the Russian and Cuban speakers for fruitful cooperation within the framework of the Russian-Cuban expert week.
Rafael Luis Torralbas Ezpeleta, president of the Technology Park of Havana, talked about “Havana Technology Science Park: an innovative ecosystem in the ICT sector”. He believes that technoparks are a very promising area, they need to be developed and supported. Speaker spoke in detail about the Havana Technology Science Park and expressed hope for fruitful cooperation with Russian colleagues working in this area.
Leslie Nunez Jarrosey, senior specialist in Defense Information Technology Company XETID, discussed such theme as advanced cybersecurity surveillance solution for critical infrastructures and data centers.
Grisel Eulalia Reyes Leon, deputy Minister of Communications of the Republic of Cuba; Alexi Masso Muñoz, head of the Blockchain Group at the Institute of Cryptography at the University of Havana; Carlos Alberto Fernandez Cairo, head of Business Intelligence, Application Development Solutions, technologies and systems “DATYS”; Lourdes Aintzane Delgado Corrons, policy expert at the Central Bank of Cuba also presented their reports.
Russian side was represented by the following colleagues: Denis Kuvikov, director of “SafeNet” JSC “Technopark of St. Petersburg”; Anna Ayiryanc, head of the project office of JSC “Academpark” Novosibirsk; Muna Batchaeva, manager of technopark “Kalibr”; Anna Novikova, senior Analyst of the Association of Clusters, Technoparks and SEZs of Russia; Adelina Kovalenko and Ksenia Kachan, students for Faculty of International and Regional Research.