Russian payment cards to be available in Cuba

[El Presidente]

Russian payment cards to be available in Cuba

The Tourism Counselor of the Cuban embassy in Moscow, Juan Carlos Escalona, pointed out that the launch of the MIR cards on the island “constitutes an important step” for the reopening of Russian tourism in the country, and added that visitors from the Eurasian country will be able to pay for their services in Cuba with them “as soon as flights between the two countries are resumed.”

The MIR payment cards, from Russia, will soon be available in Cuba, according to official sources.

Olga Skorobogatova, first vice president of the Central Bank of that Eurasian nation, affirmed that her country “is working today on the launch” on the island of this mechanism, belonging to the National Payment Card System (NSPK).

“There are several countries that would like to cooperate with us. For example, Cuba is one of the latest projects we are currently working on. In other words, our citizens will be able to use the MIR card in Cuba,” Skorobogatova explained at a working meeting of the Russian State Duma,  according to a recent report by the Prensa Latina (PL) news agency.

According to the source, Moscow is also advancing negotiations with other countries for the use of the MIR card. The official did not specify which countries she was referring to, although she said that these are nations to which “Russian tourists travel a lot.”

Currently, this payment mechanism is accepted in a group of countries with good relations with Russia, such as Vietnam, Turkey, Belarus, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, to which Cuba would join.