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

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.