Spain wants to be in "forefront" of economic changes in Cuba

Spain wants to be in "forefront" of economic changes in Cuba
Published April 15, 2015 EFE

Spain wants to be in the "forefront" of the economic changes that Cuba
will experience in the coming years with the new relationship between
the island and the United States, the Spanish secretary of state for
trade said here Tuesday.

Heading a delegation with representatives from 45 companies, Jaime
Garcia-Legaz emphasized the "special" moment provided by the
rapprochement between Havana and Washington, a situation he says will
bring "very important changes ... in the island's economy."

"Spain, for very evident reasons, cannot remain aloof, but rather must
be a country that is in the forefront of these changes," the official
told Efe.

Garcia-Legaz emphasized that the situation demands that Spain's trade
policy "be up to the circumstances."

Spain, which is Cuba's third-largest trade partner and which has more
than 200 companies doing business on the island, also wants to deepen
the "institutional relationship" between the two governments to make it
"continuous and intense," he said at a meeting with the Association of
Spanish Businessmen in Cuba, or AEEC.

At that event, AEEC president Xulio Fontecha said he wanted
Garcia-Legaz's visit to Cuba to give him the chance to "understand the
efforts" of Spanish businessmen on the island so that he "knows how to
transmit their concerns" both to Cuban authorities and to Spanish ones.

"We hope that his visit will contribute to financing the credit that we
need so much, particularly in these times in which the new circumstances
are increasing possibilities for business and investment on the island,
and therefore the need for credit coverage," Fontecha said.

Currently, Cuba is promoting foreign investment, given that the island
needs about $2.5 billion annually to enable the economic reforms to
"update" its socialist model to succeed. With that in mind, a year ago a
new foreign investment law was approved in Cuba and the Mariel Special
Zone is under construction with an eye toward attracting the interest of
firms in other countries.

Given that situation, Garcia-Legaz was dispatched to Cuba with a large
business delegation accompanied by the vice president of Spain's CEOE
employers association, Joaquim Gay, and the vice president of the
Chanber of Commerce, Modesto Piñeiro.

The delegation on Tuesday participated in a forum with Cuban businesses
at which the Spanish businessmen expressed their interest in
participating in the telecommunications, transportation, construction
and infrastructure sectors.

"In Spanish-Cuban relations, diplomatic disagreements, non-payment
problems and uncertainty about the future have been left behind," said
Piñeiro at the forum.

Gay emphasized that the CEOE views "with satisfaction" the new phase
between Cuba and the United States and supports the negotiations between
the island and the European Union to normalize their relations, at the
same time that he emphasized the economic reforms under way in the
Caribbean country. EFE

sga-sam/bp

Source: Spain wants to be in "forefront" of economic changes in Cuba |
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