Brazil will offer Cuba financial aid for industry, energy and infrastructure projects during a December visit by communist president Raul Castro, a senior government official said today.
"We'll discuss the production of buses, building roads, as well as oil investments," Marco Aurelio Garcia, president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's foreign policy adviser, told Reuters news agency.
Brazil's state development bank, BNDES, was looking at ways to finance the projects, despite the global financial crisis, he said.
"There's always money to export services," Mr Garcia said in reference to a government line of credit to export Brazilian goods and services.
Mr Castro will participate in a summit of Latin American and Caribbean leaders in Salvador on December 16th and subsequently visit the capital Brasilia.
Mr Castro said today he would soon visit Venezuela, the communist-run island's main trade partner, in what would be his first overseas trip since assuming power from his brother Fidel Castro.
Reuters