Singapore: According to reports, Cuba and China are set to further expand cooperation in the field of biotechnology. Officials said that the 8th meeting of the Cuba-China Joint Working Group on Biotechnology will be held in Havana to review progress made over the last two years on already existing agreements.

The biennial meeting, alternately hosted by Cuba and China, will this year focus on five areas: industry, sanitary regulations, health, science and neuroscience technology, and agriculture. In the meeting public-private biotech firms are expected to present the results of bilateral cooperation efforts so far and the outlook for future agreements.

Mr Dayana Martinez Torres, spokesperson for Cuban biotech group BioCubaFarma, told a news agency that the meeting will gather about 100 representatives from both countries who will draw up the agreements that will guide the development of biotech cooperation over the coming years.

The president of BioCubaFarma, Mr Carlos Gutierrez, will address the opening on Cuba's behalf, while the deputy director of China's National Development and Reform Commission, Mr Lin Nianxiu, will sum up China's developments and progress.

In 2012, Cuba's government merged 38 different biotech and pharmaceutical firms into BioCubaFarma to consolidate the country's biotech industry, which has the potential to generate significant foreign revenue via exports of innovative medical products and to develop new medications to substitute costly imports.