News Analysis: Italy-Cuba summit could pay dividends long-term for both countries

The first-ever meeting between Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Cuban leader Raul Castro involved two leaders whose different strategies in guiding their countries through a period of change could benefit from stronger ties with each other.

At first glance, the two men have little in common: 40-year-old Renzi is a political newcomer, never having held office higher than that of mayor until becoming prime minister last year, while Castro, who will turn 84 next month, alongside his brother Fidel, has helped rule Cuba since 1959 -- dating back more than a decade and a half before Renzi was even born.

But one characteristic is that both are trying to be agents of change in their respective countries: Renzi is looking to reduce layers of bureaucracy and inefficiencies with an aggressive reform-minded agenda, and Castro is seeking to shepherd his country through a transition from an economy for much of its history dependent on the then-Soviet Union to a more market-based system.

"If both Renzi and Castro are successful, history will look back and see this period as a period of transition in both countries," Norwalk College international affairs author and Cuban history expert Jose Arturo Perez told Xinhua.

It is a point Renzi made in his remarks: "History follows its course and we all must be players in this," the prime minister said, adding "Italy would like to be a protagonist in this new page of history, and we already know Cuba will be."

Of course, the parallels only go so far: while Italy is suffering from an extended recession and worrying levels of debt, its challenges are not nearly as severe as those of Cuba.

Still, experts say that both countries can benefit from each other: according to La Sapienza University anthropologist Alessandra Ciattini, both nations have an interest in the biotechnology sector, and in developing nickel mining in Cuba.

Additionally, Cuba remains a popular tourist destination for Italians.

For his part, Castro said he hoped improved ties with Italy would help lead to stronger relations between Cuba and the European Union as a whole.

"This encounter didn't just happen by chance; it has been in the works for a year," Alessandra Mori, a researcher at Bocconi University in Milan who also works with the Institute for Latin American Studies and Economies in Transition, said in an interview. "Cuba is a top priority for Italy in that part of the world, and this meeting shows that."

The meeting has certainly increased interest between the two countries: Luciano Vasapollo, another professor at La Sapienza who is interested in Cuban affairs, said he now conducts 20 interviews a day, for example, and the Italian press carried news of the summit on the front pages. Reports are that Cuban media also regarded the encounter as an important meeting for the country's long-term prospects. Endit