Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and his Salvadoran counterpart, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, affirmed in Havana on Thursday their mutual objective of promoting the bilateral economic relationship with a new trade accord.
       
Diaz-Canel welcomed Sanchez Ceren at the Palace of Revolution four days after the Salvadoran president arrived in Cuba leading a delegation including five Cabinet ministers.
       
On Thursday, Salvadoran Economy Minister Luz Estrella Rodriguez and Cuba's minister of External Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, signed the first additional protocol to the 2012 bilateral trade pact known as the AAP.
       
Rodriguez said that with the updated accord there will be increased trade between the two nations, with 110 products from each country now included on the list of exports that will have tariff preferences.
       
Among the main products that Cuba imports from El Salvador are concrete poles, cardboard boxes and medicine, to name a few. Meanwhile, El Salvador receives medical equipment, supplies and ingredients for the chemical-pharmaceutical sector and tobacco from the Caribbean island.
       
The AAP also includes a commitment to promote the training of specialists, the exchange of information and experiences on scientific research in areas such as biotechnology, genetic engineering and medicine and mutual assistance for technological development and productivity.
       
In the last five years, trade between Cuba and El Salvador has reached an estimated $5 million, according to official figures.