Malaysia To Have Strong Footing In Cuban Market - Envoy

By Yasmin Abdul Manan and Nabilah Saleh KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 (Bernama) -- With a positive start in the re-establishment of US-Cuba relations, Malaysia will soon embark on a potentially strong footing in the Cuban market. Cuban Ambassador to Malaysia, Ibete Fernandez Hernandez said the development could further benefit other countries to establish their presence, as well as increase bilateral cooperation. Citing the good trade relations which Cuba was experiencing with Vietnam, China and Malaysia, she strongly believed that more countries could venture in fields like biotechnology, education and health in Cuba. "For example with Malaysia, the two nations have shared expertise in producing lung cancer drugs. In recent years, a new Cuban medical product that could heal diabetic ulcers in the foot was also produced. "Many countries have always eyed Cuba to expand their businesses since the blockade by the US Government was lifted ... however, they need to wait for the latest development in Cuba," she told Bernama after paying a courtesy call on (Non-Aligned Movement) NAM News Network (NNN) Director Musa Scully at Wisma Bernama here Tuesday. Also present was Bernama Domestic News Service Deputy Editor-in-Chief Mokhtar Hussain. Founded in 2002 in Kuala Lumpur, Bioven Sdn Bhd, a bio-tech company is a joint collaboration with the Center of Molecular Immunology in Cuba, focusing on the development of novel treatments for cancer. On a separate note, Hernandez, speaking on the current terrorism threat faced by many countries worldwide said that in the past, Cuba had experienced such vicious situation and understood how this would affect a country in many ways. "Cuba condemns any kind of terrorism because we have been victims of terrorism many years ago and we had suffered tremendously due to that. "We have been suffering from terrorism a lot and while we condemn any kind of terrorist at any place in the world as we strongly believe that nobody deserves that, many lives of the innocent are grabbed in a gruesome way." Cuba and Malaysia have enjoyed increasingly fruitful and meaningful relations in many areas - politics, economics, trade, medical, education, sports and people-to-people relations. --BERNAMA