Cuba and the U.S. Explore Ways for Commercial Exchange

Cuba and the U.S. Explore Ways for Commercial ExchangeHAVANA, Cuba, Oct 7 (acn) The ministers of trade of Cuba and the United States, Rodrigo Malmierca and Penny Pritzker, expressed on Wednesday their interest in moving towards identifying ways that make it possible to boost bilateral exchanges, limited by the persistence of the economic, commercial and financial blockade against the island.

On an official visit to Cuba, the U.S. Commerce Secretary presided over, along with the Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, a meeting between representatives of their governments and the business sector, to explore the scope and limitations of the measures adopted by President Barack Obama during 2015.

After receiving Pritzker and her delegation, Malmierca stressed the interest generated around the meeting, which seeks to identify ways, know in depth the impact of regulations adopted to modify some aspects of the blockade, and formulate the path chosen by both countries to normalize their relations.

We know it will not be an easy process, there are many differences, but the willingness of doing it together exists, highlighted the Cuban minister, while reiterating the acknowledgement of the Cuban government for the adoption, by the U.S. President, of a group of regulations which will make restrictions of the blockade more flexible to some extent.

However, he stressed that they are insufficient; we must continue working to end that policy, since today it constitutes the main obstacle to progress towards the normalization of relations between the two nations.

In his conversation with the Secretary of Commerce, Malmierca insisted on the fact that Obama still has presidential powers and prerogatives which, if used, could substantially modify the implementation of the blockade imposed on Cuba for over half a century by the White House.

Pritzker, second senior U.S. official traveling to the island after the official reestablishment of diplomatic relations (the first one was John Kerry, Secretary of State), welcomed the brave decision of the Presidents of Cuba and the U.S. to initiate a path towards better links.

Learning is the aim of this visit, said the experienced businesswoman, while highlighting the wish of her government to contribute to the insertion of Cuba in world economy, and with this action contribute to improve the wellbeing of the Cuban people, and at the same time give the U.S. people the opportunity to learn more about this Caribbean island, she pointed out.

To that end, Obama adopted from January to September 2015 a group of measures aimed at expanding commercial exchange and the participation of U.S. companies, especially in agriculture and telecommunications, as well as relaxing travel to Cuba, said Pritzker .

She said that the effect of these regulations on the Cuban people will also depend on the adjustments the Cuban government can make in the transformation of its economy, with a greater presence of the private sector.

On Tuesday, after arriving in Havana, Pritzker visited the Mariel Special Development Zone, which stretches for 465 square kilometers west of the Cuban capital, where the major investment interests to boost the growth of national economy are concentrated.

According to the program of her visit to Cuba, which ends of Wednesday, the Secretary will meet with other top Cuban government officials to exchange views on the possibilities of promoting bilateral trade, as part of the process towards the normalization of relations between the two countries.