Cuba’s Minister of External Trade and Foreign Investment Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz (3rd from left) meets Kuwait officials at the KCCI.

KUWAIT: With the political environment in Cuba improving rapidly as it reestablishes political relations with the US, business in Cuba is booming. A delegation of Cuba’s Minister of External Trade and Foreign Investment Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz is in town, enticing Kuwaiti investors to invest in Cuba.

Diaz was accompanied by Cuba’s Director of Foreign Investment Opportunities Deborah Rivas and Cuba’s Ambassador to Kuwait Andres Gonzalez Garrido as they visited the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) yesterday.

The group was welcomed by KCCI Chairman Ali-Mohammed Thunayan Al-Ghanem and a number of KCCI members. “Our political ties are excellent, but zero in terms of economic relations. So we want to hear from you how we can improve this,” Ghanem said as he welcomed the delegation at the KCCI headquarters in Kuwait City.

Diaz said he is keen on developing and improving economic ties with Kuwait. “We have excellent relations politically, and we are thankful for this, but we want to see the same level in terms of the economy,” he said in his opening remarks. “We are in the process of change in Cuba, a process we initiated with our own population. We have the consensus of the majority of people when we approved the so-called guidelines for the economic and social development of Cuba,” he pointed out.

“After discussions with the people and with their ideas included, we changed the guidelines. The process is complemented with the relationship with the US - we have already reestablished our diplomatic relations, but the economic blockade or embargo is very complex, so there is an obstacle with our relationship with the world. But we see the light at the end of the tunnel now since the US government has accepted that the blockade was a failed policy,” Diaz mentioned. “US President Barack Obama has declared that he will go to the US Congress and will act on the blockade issue.

It’s going to be a process and it’s not going to happen in one day, but even before this (lifting of the embargo), we want to have a diversified relationship with the world,” he said. In the presentation yesterday by Rivas, she stressed various ways on how to invest in Cuba, mentioning a new law which was passed in Cuba’s parliament last year where she emphasized more guarantees and more incentives for foreign inventors. “We created a special development economic zone to be developed and financed by foreign investors. We have invested a lot in new ports, we have portfolio of foreign investment opportunities and we hope to welcome you all in Cuba,” Rivas said.

By Ben Garcia