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President Vladimir Putin has begun his Latin American tour by visiting Cuba, in an apparent bid to seek allies to counter US and Western influence.

The Russian president’s choice of first stop, Cuba, is seen as an attempt to further boost friendly ties with the one-time Soviet ally.

Russia confirmed cancellation of 90% of Cuba’s debt two days before the visit.

Vladimir Putin will also travel to Argentina and Brazil, where he will attend the football World Cup final on Sunday as leader of the next host nation.

Later he will attend a summit of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, Chinas and South Africa) emerging economies in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza.

Vladimir Putin has begun his Latin American tour by visiting Cuba,

Vladimir Putin has begun his Latin American tour by visiting Cuba (photo picture-alliance/dpa)

In an interview on the eve of the trip, Vladimir Putin said Brazil was one of a group of emerging countries who should play a greater role on the world stage.

“This powerful and fast-developing country is destined to play an important role in the emerging polycentric world order,” he said, adding that Russia would back Brazil’s bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

Analysts say Vladimir Putin is trying to encourage Latin American countries to challenge Western dominance in the world at a time when Russia is isolated by sanctions over Ukraine and relations with the West are at their lowest since the Cold War.

In Cuba, Vladimir Putin is expected to meet President Raul Castro and his predecessor and brother Fidel.

They will be expected to discuss the progress of an agreement signed last year which cancels 90% of Cuba’s $35.2 million Soviet-era debt to Russia and channels the remaining 10% into joint investment projects in the country.

The deal was ratified by the upper house of the Russian parliament on Wednesday.

Relations between Cuba and Russia declined after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 but have improved in recent years.

Russia is involved in oil exploration offshore and began drilling a development well last year.

Vladimir Putin said Russian companies were interested in investing in reinforced plastic products, car parts and heavy equipment for the railway industry.

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Google has decided to base its first Latin American data centre in Chile, near the capital Santiago.

The computer server base is expected to cost $150 million and will employ up to 20 people, Google said.

Google said it chose Chile because of its reliable infrastructure and skilled workforce.

The country has been trying to become a tech hub, with initiatives such as Start-Up Chile attracting entrepreneurs from around the world.

The search giant said the data communications centre would make its products faster to access, and more reliable for the local population.

Google has decided to base its first Latin American data centre in Chile, near the capital Santiago

Google has decided to base its first Latin American data centre in Chile, near the capital Santiago

Chile’s selection is a coup for the nation bearing in mind Brazil has a much larger population, is more centrally located and contains a fast-growing tech sector.

“Chile… fosters an atmosphere of innovation, and in recent years has developed cutting edge policies and programs that encourage the growth of the internet,” Google said.

“As with all of our facilities around the world, we chose Quilicura, Chile, following a thorough and rigorous site selection process, taking many technical and other considerations into account including location, infrastructure, workforce, reasonable business regulations and cost.”

Google already has data centres in the United States, Finland and Belgium, and plans to build more in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan by next year.

The centre in Chile is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2013.

Opening a data centre in Latin America may help Google’s ambitions in the region.

Orkut, a social network operated and owned by Google, used to be number one in Brazil and several other places in Latin America.

But according to digital media analytics company Comscore, it has now slipped to third place, behind Facebook and Twitter.

 

 

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