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☆ Cuba seeks foreign investment, thumbing nose at US sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-06 | by ( Nelson Acosta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HAVANA, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Cuba hosted a business fair with over 800 companies from more than 60 countries on Monday as it lobbied for new investments, thumbing its nose at U.S. sanctions that have long spooked foreign companies from engaging with the communist-run island. "Today we work ...to minimize the negative impact of the economic, financial and commercial blockade," said Cuba foreign trade minister Ricardo Cabrisas at the forum's opening event. Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel told attendees "massive" participation at the fair this year was proof of business confidence in Cuba. The trade fair includes promotional stands from countries ranging from Spain to Russia, Iran and China. Foreign companies also complain that local regulations, bureaucracy and problems with the peso currency and payments also bog down business in Cuba.

Persons: Ricardo Cabrisas, Miguel Diaz, Canel, Diaz, Jay Brickman, Biden, Hugo Cancio, Cancio, Nelson Acosta, Dave Sherwood, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Reuters, Miami, U.S, DeCancio, Thomson Locations: HAVANA, Cuba, U.S, Cuban, Spain, Russia, Iran, China

HAVANA, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Representatives of 14 western creditor nations, grouped in the Paris Club, were in Cuba this week to salvage a debt agreement with the import dependent country which is expected to default on payments for a fourth consecutive year. William Roos, co-chairman of the Paris Club, had said on Wednesday that he proposed a plan which apparently was rejected. The 2015 Paris Club agreement forgave $8.5 billion of the $11.1 billion in sovereign debt Cuba defaulted on in 1986. Cuba, which last reported foreign debt of $19.7 billion for 2020, has restructured debt with Russia, China and some other creditors since then. The Cuba group of the 22-member Paris Club, which manages old sovereign debt, comprises Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Britain, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Persons: ”, William Roos, Ricardo Cabrisas, Cabrisas, Marc Frank, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: Paris Club, Investment, Cooperation, Communist, Gross, Reuters, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Thomson Locations: HAVANA, Cuba, Paris, Russia, China, Caribbean, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Britain, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland

The longtime political allies - both subject to U.S. sanctions - are seeking to cement economic ties by facilitating trade and investment. "(The deals) constitute a milestone in the history of our bilateral and business ties," said Ricardo Cabrisas, Cuba's foreign trade minister, in a speech closing the forum on Friday. Russia also provided funds, know-how and technology to restart a steel mill in Cuba to supply construction materials on the island, according to Cuba state-run media reports. More than 150 Russian businesspeople attended the forum in Havana, according to Cuban officials. SUGAR DEALRussia this week also promised to help revive Cuba's once-vaunted sugar industry, which has nearly collapsed in recent years as its production has plunged to historic lows.

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. "They are giving us preferential treatment," Titov told the packed forum in Havana´s Hotel Nacional. "In Soviet times there was a direct port and maritime link," Titov told the forum. Ricardo Cabrisas, Cuba´s minister of foreign commerce told reporters on the sidelines of the forum that the economic ties between Russia and Cuba would only grow stronger. Bilateral trade between Cuba and Russia reached $450 million in 2022, three times that of 2021, according to Sergei Baldin, Russia´s trade representative in Cuba.

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