Russia will provide Cuba with a 10-year $355 mln loan with interest at 4% per year, Russia’s prime minister said Thursday. Mikhail Fradkov signed a Russian-Cuban intergovernmental agreement earlier Thursday. He said the credit will be used to finance the delivery of Russian goods and services to the socialist Caribbean country in 2006-08. Fradkov said the intergovernmental agreement identified seven areas in which the credit will be used: investment cooperation projects, modernization of Cuba’s energy sector, reconstruction of water conservation facilities and railroads, the design and delivery of air navigation systems, and the modernization of the transportation system. The two countries also signed a military cooperation agreement. The two met privately and did not speak to the press about the encounter. But Alexander Bochanov, the press liaison at the Russian Embassy in Havana, said that Russia had agreed to restructure some $166 million of debt acquired in recent years. Source: AP; Ria Novosti

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