MOSCOW, May 8 (UPI) -- Trade and economic cooperation with Cuba, formerly on the Russian oil radar, topped the agenda of Kremlin meetings, a Russian government spokesman said.
Cuba is opening its doors more for Western powers after a long Cold War policy of isolation from the United States. For Russia, which in part triggered the freeze in the early 1960s, the visit was part of a historic trade relationship in the Latin American economy.
"There is no need to describe the quality of Russian-Cuban relations, which have a long history," Russian President Vladimir Putin told a visiting Cuban President Raul Castro.
Putin's aide, Yuri Ushakov, said both sides discussed trade and economic cooperation for an evolving Cuba. While trade between both countries dropped by more than 10 percent last year, Ushakov said development of oil fields off the Cuban coast through a joint venture between the two countries was among the more promising areas of cooperation.
Cuba in the past worked to cut the amount of oil it imports from Venezuela through development of its own offshore reserves.
Cuba has limited proven reserves of its own and relies on imports from Latin American countries to meet its energy demands.
In 2011, Gazprom Neft, the oil division of Gazprom, bought a 30 percent stake in four Cuban blocks following a production-sharing agreement signed with Malaysia's Petronas and Cuba's Cubapetroleo, or Cupet.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimated there were about 4.6 billion barrels of crude oil and 9.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the form of undiscovered, technically recoverable, reserves in Cuba. About three quarters of that is said to be located within 50 miles from shore.
