HAVANA, Cuba — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met with Cuban chief Miguel Díaz-Canel on Thursday, wrapping up a Latin America journey that additionally included visits to Iran’s two different allies within the area - Venezuela and Nicaragua.

During a commerce discussion board with native businesspeople in Havana, Raisi stated Cuba and Iran would search to work collectively in biotechnology, mining, electrical energy technology and different areas.

“I hope this meeting will help facilitate integration as well as an exchange of ideas and opinions,” Raisi stated.

Unlike his earlier stops in Nicaragua and Venezuela, Raisi shunned making harsh feedback in public in opposition to Washington or the financial sanctions imposed on his nation and its three allies within the area.

After the discussion board, Raisi and Diaz-Canel toured biotechnology manufacturing crops within the western a part of the capital, then headed to a closed-door reception at Cuba’s Palace of the Revolution.

The leaders additionally signed a number of agreements on customs, justice, telecommunications and diplomatic motion.

PHOTOS: Iran's president meets Cuban counterpart in final leg of Latin American tour

While the scope of the agreements was not but clear, the power sector is one in every of explicit significance for Cuba, the place gas shortages have elevated dramatically prior to now weeks amid a extreme financial disaster.

Raisi’s tour of allied nations in Latin America comes amid rising tensions with the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden.

Asked about Raisi’s Latin America tour earlier this month, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby declined to touch upon the Iranian chief or his agenda. But Kirby acknowledged the administration was involved about Iran’s “destabilizing behavior, and said it will “continue to take steps to mitigate that behavior.”

The U.S. has accused Iran of offering Russia with supplies to construct a drone manufacturing plant east of Moscow, whereas the Kremlin seeks to make sure a gentle provide of weapons for its invasion of Ukraine. U.S. intelligence officers consider the plant in Russia might begin operations early subsequent yr, however Iran has stated it provided drones to Russia earlier than the beginning of the battle.

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