| The establishment of a new customs office in Cuba will accelerate trade and investment relations between Russia and Latin America. |
In June 2023, Boris Titov, chairman of the Russian-Cuba Business Council, said that Moscow was studying the possibility of establishing a common maritime trade route for all Latin American countries to reduce transportation costs. Among them, the port of Mariel, 45 km west of the Cuban capital Havana, is one of the suitable locations to become a logistics center.
Moscow's idea is to create a single transport system that will allow all parties to trade and thereby reduce transport costs. Goods are then concentrated at a logistics center and local transport companies are responsible for distribution.
Changes in the logistics chain following the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine have significantly increased the cost of transporting goods from Russia to Latin America, affecting bilateral trade.
If it used to cost only about 6,000 USD to transport goods from Russia to Latin America, now it costs businesses up to 20,000 USD.
There are now many Latin American countries that try to supply goods to Russia independently or through logistics companies, with three or four stops, and at the same time buy goods from Russia at high prices due to additional transportation costs.
Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz also proposed that the Eurasian Economic Union establish an industrial park in the Mariel special economic zone to facilitate Russian investment access to the Latin American market.
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