Titov

Titov said Cuba had offered Russian businesses the right to make use of Cuban land for 30 year-terms, an unusual concession to foreign firms in the communist-run country.

"In Soviet times there was a direct port and maritime link," Titov told the forum.

"They are giving us preferential treatment," Titov told the packed forum in Havana´s Hotel Nacional.

Boris Titov, head of the Russian delegation of the Cuban-Russian Business Committee, told a forum of Russian entrepreneurs in Havana that Cuba had decisively opened the door to Russian investment.

The two countries, on opposite sides of the globe, are also considering ways to fast-track shipping between them, Titov said.