A business forum between entrepreneurs from Cuba and the United States began this Wednesday in Havana. The meeting seeks to promote commercial exchange between both nations and explore possible agreements and investment opportunities in the largest of the Antilles.
The forum is organized by the Cuban Chamber of Commerce and Focus Cuba, a North American business consultancy specializing in the Caribbean country. It brings together some twenty US businessmen, including five Cuban-Americans, from sectors such as agri-food, transportation, finance and technology, as well as representatives of state-owned companies, MSMEs and other actors from the Cuban private sector.
At the opening, held at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, Antonio Carricarte, president of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce, described the day as “historic” and highlighted the “gesture of courage” of the businessmen from the northern country attending the meeting, despite the unfavorable moment that bilateral relations are going through and the “brutal damage” of the embargo from Washington to the Island.
Starts in Havana, business conference between Cuba and the United States.#Cuba #USES #BusinessInCuba #InvestInCuba #MSMEs #FocusCuba #CamaraCuba pic.twitter.com/h2Gl0Qg2nV
— MINCEX?? (@MINCEX_CUBA) October 26, 2022
Carricarte explained that last year imports to Cuba from US territory amounted to 370 million dollars, a “modest” figure when compared to the total of 8 billion dollars imported by the Island. In this sense, he considered that, given its geographical proximity and competitiveness, the United States could have a “more significant” presence in Cuban trade and invited the businessmen attending the forum to “take advantage of the loopholes” of the embargo to achieve it.
In addition, he pointed out that the meeting is being held in a “very timely” context, in which transformations are being carried out in the Cuban economy, with the entry into force of new regulations that seek to promote foreign investment and give greater participation to non-state actors. on the Island, and invited the North American participants to calibrate the existing business opportunities in Cuba.
Presents deputy minister of @MEP_CUBA @MEP_Johana update of new transformations of the Cuban economy in Cuba-United States Business Conference #Cuba #mep #MSMEs #mincex #USES pic.twitter.com/hIAgUuOPon
— MINCEX?? (@MINCEX_CUBA) October 26, 2022
For his part, Phil Peters, from Focus Cuba, thanked the Cuban authorities for the exchange opportunities and possible agreements opened by the forum, and highlighted the importance of trade to open new doors and strengthen ties between the two countries beyond the politics.
Peters lamented that the President of the United States, Joe Biden, has not fulfilled his electoral promises to resume the rapprochement with the Island initiated by the government of Barack Obama, and praised the steps taken by Cuba for greater development of the private sector, which that he considered as “something new” that arouses “a particular curiosity” in northern businessmen.
In this regard, he said that the meeting will allow the American participants to “examine the entire spectrum of possible businesses” in the largest of the Antilles, and called on his countrymen to take advantage of the meeting to satisfy their concerns and investigate the Cuban counterpart in search of “clarity” and future business opportunities.
The business forum between Cuba and the United States will last until this Friday, October 28. Its program includes a business round, panels and visits to Cuban institutions such as the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and the Scientific-Technological Park of Havana.
The meeting takes place at a time when the Biden Administration has taken steps to reverse some measures taken by the Republican government of Donald Trump against Cuba, although still far from the levels of the so-called “thaw” promoted by Obama. Precisely from those times dates the previous edition of a business forum of this type between both nations.
The Cuban government, which in just days will present to the UN General Assembly its proposed resolution against the Washington embargo —which receives the majority support of the international community every year— has said that these steps by the Biden government are “in the right direction,” but also that they are still “insufficient” to alleviate the effects of the sanctions, which he considers to be “the greatest obstacle” facing the island’s economy.
