Tegucigalpa, June 15. Nicaragua and Russia reviewed projects and cooperation programs in the areas of transportation, food security, health, energy, investment and trade this Thursday, Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo reported.
The governments of both allied countries are also examining the issues of university cooperation, communication media and scientific and technical culture, said Murillo, wife of the country’s President Daniel Ortega.
The review of the bilateral cooperation was carried out by the Intergovernmental Mixed Commission Nicaragua-Russia within the framework of the XXVI. St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, he explained.
Two sons of President Ortega and Murillo are part of the delegation attending this forum.
The children of the Nicaraguan presidential couple attending this forum are Laureano Facundo Ortega Murillo, Presidential Advisor for Investment, Trade and International Cooperation and Special Presidential Representative for Affairs with Russia; and Daniel Edmundo Ortega Murillo, media director of the Sandinista government’s Communications and Citizenship Council.
INTENSIVE AGENDA FOR NICARAGUA IN RUSSIA
As part of this forum, Nicaraguan Health Minister Martha Reyes visited the Institute of Vaccines and Sera in Saint Petersburg “to further develop the capacity of the Latin American Institute of Biotechnology MECHNIKOV in Nicaragua,” the government announced in a press release.
Meanwhile, Nicaraguan Ambassador to Moscow Alba Torres took part in a panel entitled “The Language of Diplomacy in the Multipolar World”.
For his part, Nicaraguan Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, retired General Oscar Mojica, met with Russian Deputy Transport Minister Igor Chalik “to discuss the potential for cooperation on programs and projects with Nicaragua,” the information said.
Nicaraguan Finance and Public Credit Minister Iván Acosta took part in a panel entitled “Dedollarization, the future of money” in which the Central American government is committed to de-dollarizing their economies and moving closer to the BRICS countries context of western sanctions.
Meanwhile, Laureano Ortega Murillo took part in the panel entitled “Russia-Latin America”.
According to the government, the Nicaraguan delegation also held a working meeting with the Russian media channel RT “to further strengthen cooperation and exchange programs”.
Close relationships
According to Managua, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is “an important event in the world of economy and business, which has been taking place since 1997 and has become the most important international platform for contact between representatives of the business world.”
“In addition to a space for debates on fundamental economic issues for Russia, developing markets and the world in general,” he said.
Since Ortega took over the presidency in 2007, Nicaragua and Russia have strengthened ties on all fronts.
Russia is an old ally of Nicaragua, supplying Soviet arms to the Nicaraguan armed forces during the first Sandinista government (1979-1990).
Nicaragua is one of the few countries, along with Venezuela and the small island nations of Nauru and Tuvalu, to have joined Russia in recognizing the independence of Georgia’s separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and has hosted senior Russian officials since the Eurasian giant invaded Ukraine.