HAVANA, Cuba – The government of Cuba has thanked the Organization of Petroleum Exporting countries (OPEC) for supporting the economy of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean nation, even as the United States continues to tighten its restrictions against the island.
Since 2002, when the first agreement was signed between Cuba and the OPEC Fund for International Development, the organization has granted 15 government concessional loans for the implementation of projects in different provinces, aimed at upgrading irrigation systems, rehabilitating electrical networks and water and sewerage systems, seven of which are currently underway.
OPEC was founded in Sept. 1960 in Baghdad, Iraq. It is made up of 13 countries in Africa, Asia and South America, which hold 43 percent of the world’s oil production and 81 percent of the world’s reserves.
