MIAMI, United States.- The Cuban authorities announced this Monday on the state television program Round Table new measures for foreign trade and internal trade, in order “for Cuba to recover from the complex economic situation facing the country and move forward progressively”.
According to Betsy Díaz Velázquez, Minister of Internal Trade, the joint ventures will be able to sell in the retail network in Cuba, but they will start with the stores in MLC (Freely Convertible Currency) and in an indeterminate future they will do so in the network of stores in Cuban pesos.
“The effect of the measure, which has to start with sales in MLC, has an effect on increasing offers in CUP and, with it, counteracting the excessive increase in prices and stabilizing supply, which is one of the greatest difficulties that today present,” said the official.
Díaz Velázquez explained that since the design of the economic strategy, “trade has been at the center of it, focused on measures that allow resolving the complex situation in supply and taking into account the difficult international context, the logistics crisis and the effects generated by the economic ‘blockade’ on Cuba”.
“Trade has not really been a prioritized sector in the field of foreign investment, because the main projects have been aimed at the production of goods and services,” he added.
The official assured that the people “can have confidence”, that the new measures are aimed “to offer goods and services”, although at first everything will go “to the stores in MLC”.
According to a summary published by the official Cubadebatethe minister pointed out that “foreign investment does not escape the strategy of the trade sector, including the attraction of capital and the acquisition of new technologies, as well as the incorporation of management and marketing methods.”
“We could consider that we know what the Cuban market demands and this is not exactly the case, because we see that today we have diverse cultures, so we also have to acquire marketing studies from foreign investment that allow us, once we have access to goods and services, bring what is really attractive to the Cuban population,” he said.
The Government of Cuba will bet on foreign investment and will prioritize companies that have been in the country for a longer time. As stated in the state program, there will be a survey of stores in the country that can be incorporated into the network of stores.
The implementation of the new measures announced, which aim to open wholesale and retail trade to foreign investment and try to end the shortage of food and other products in Cuba, will be “coupled with control and monitoring mechanisms to guarantee its effectiveness. , since the purpose is to increase supply levels and stabilize offers in establishments”, said the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Ana Teresita González.
Likewise, the official said, they will selectively create joint ventures to carry out retail activities, whose objective will also be to achieve greater efficiency in the sector.
In this regard, González commented that there is consensus that the country does not sufficiently take advantage of the benefits of foreign investment in terms of access to markets, new techniques for logistics management, financing and technologies, which is intended to be overcome.
Retail trade will only allow joint ventures, while wholesale trade may be accessed as an international association, joint venture, and companies with 100% foreign capital will be allowed as long as it is in accordance with the regime’s policies.
“We want these measures to have an immediate effect on shortage problems and contribute to improving offers in stores in MLC and in national currency,” said González.
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