Spain wants to increase investments in Cuba
During the XXII Session of the Bilateral Business Committee held in Havana recently the government of Spain ratified their willingness to continue consolidating economic and commercial ties with the Island. The meeting was held at the Hotel Nacional and attended by more than 70 Spanish companies, as well as the Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Rodrigo Malmierca.
Alfredo Bonet, international director of the Chamber of Commerce of Spain, which organizes the aforementioned XXII Session, noted in statements published by the news agency EFE that “Cuba is a market and a country of the future, and when it is finally integrated into the global market Spanish companies must be at the front of the line.”
Currently in Cuba there are 65 hotel administration contracts and more than 30 joint ventures in which Spain participates, in sectors such as tourism, foreign trade, industry, construction, agriculture, livestock, water resources or renewable energies; but plans are still being developed to favor and strengthen commercial relations and intensify economic cooperation.
Orlando Hernández, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Cuba, confirmed that Spain continues to be the Island’s third commercial partner, after China and Venezuela, but that the intent is to further diversify bilateral ties. And therefore a work plan was signed for the 2018-2019 period that will also address the past two years’ financial difficulties, which affect the approximately 250 Spanish companies in Cuba.
Regarding the current situation, Jaime García-Legaz, Spanish co-president of the bilateral committee, said, “”the Cuban government is doing everything possible to make the payments, although the macroeconomic situation does not help either,” in reference to the economic crisis that Cuba faces largely as a result of the deep recession of recent years in Venezuela, its main economic partner and ally in the region.
Joaquín Gay de Montellá, vice-president of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations, explained the valuable role that the support of diverse financial instruments have played in the bilateral exchange in recent years.
Translation by Progreso Weekly.
