MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Following visit Russian leader calls for bigger Latam role

Pte. Medvedev "I consider the trip extremely useful"

Russian president Dmitri Medvedev said he was very satisfied with his Latinamerican tour which took him to Peru, Brazil, Venezuela and Cuba because it enabled to re-establish strong links with the region.

"Latinamerica is a special region, which we must admit in the last few years we did not pay the attention it deserves", said the Russian leader in a video message in his blog in the Russian presidency site. "Latinamerica is a region developing fast, which has a concentration of significant intellectual and natural resources, and most important the peoples of the region want to cooperate with Russia", added Medvedev. "I consider the trip extremely useful and we were able to re-establish or establish new links with countries with which we did not have such close affinities", he emphasized. "We are prepared to increase political, economic and military cooperation with Latinamerican countries and their leaders, particularly in a world with so many security problems and challenges". Medvedev is the first head of state of post Soviet Russia to visit Peru, Venezuela and Cuba. "It's good to listen to each other and to learn from each other", said the Russian president who underlined the "very interesting conversation held with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who for the last five decades has been one of the key politicians of the region and has gone through the most incredible events". During his Latinamerican tour Medvedev participated in the APEC forum (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) held for the first time in Lima, Peru and later in the ALBA, Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, conference organized by Venezuelan President Chavez in Caracas. Russia under former president now Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been displaying a more aggressive stand in Latinamerica and the Caribbean, which is seen as an effort from Moscow to counterbalance the US expansion in Europe particularly in the former Soviet satellites bordering Russia.