OREANDA-NEWS. On November 10, 2008 MMC Norilsk Nickel (Norilsk Nickel or the Conpany) and Cubaniquel signed Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation. From the part of Norilsk Nickel the international document was signed by Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, General Director – Chairman of the Management Board, from the part of Cubaniquel – by Ricardo Gonzalez Sanchez, Vice Minister of MINBAS, reported the press-centre of Norilsk Nickel.

The signing ceremony took place during the working visit of Igor Sechin, Vice Premier of the Russian Federation, to a number of Latin America countries (Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba).

V. Strzhalkovsky was a member of a group of Russian businessmen who accompanied Vice Premier I. Sechin.

The Memorandum signed confirms the Parties' decision to organize, in particular, exchanges of specialists in mining, marketing and environmental issues, exchanges of experiences in commercialization of Nickel products, as well as of information and consultations on prospective types of nickel products, on a regular basis, to meet the needs of basic consumers. MMC Norilsk Nickel and Cubaniquel agreed also on cooperation in the fields of geological prospecting of Nicaro Mines, in particular, to examine the stocks of solid serpentinites.

In order to stretch cooperation, MMC Norilsk Nickel General Director – Chairman of the Management Board V. Strzhalkovsky and Vice Minister of MINBAS Ricardo Gonzalez Sanchez agreed in the Memorandum to analyze this program of joint research at a meeting of Russian-Cuban Intergovernmental Commission in January 2009.