In a historic move, Cuba and Mexico have signed a cooperation agreement aimed at boosting sugarcane research and production in both countries. Representatives from each country’s leading scientific centres for sugar production attended the signing ceremony, marking a first-ever formal partnership to exchange valuable biological and genetic materials from sugarcane.
The agreement was signed by Arlandy Noy Perera, general director of Cuba’s Sugarcane Research Institute (INICA) and Dr. Carlos Flores Revilla, head of Mexico’s Sugarcane Research and Development Center (CIDCA) in Chiapas. Both officials underlined the fact that cooperation in sugarcane research with access to each other’s knowledge and testing of new methods will be essential in advancing the production of sugarcane. The five-year partnership will include visits by experts and other activities collaborating in the development of new technologies for sugarcane.
This signing opened the VIII Meeting of the Cuban and Mexican sugarcane technician associations, ATAC and ATAM. Eduardo Lamadrid Martínez, president of ATAC, welcomed Mexican attendees and thanked them for coming due to the newest damage Cuba had just suffered from Hurricane Rafael. Mariela Gallardo Capote, vice president of Cuba’s AZCUBA Business Group, called the meeting insightful and meaningful, especially amid the challenges Cuba faces due to the U.S. embargo.
The Cuban Association of Sugarcane Technicians, ATAC, was originally founded on January 3, 1927, at Havana’s Midday Club in the Royal Bank of Canada building. Among its 15 founders, only one was Cuban, with the others hailing from Portugal, Spain, and the United States.
