More local projects in the portfolio of foreign investment opportunities.

By María Josefina Arce.

   The Havana International Fair opens its doors next week.  As usual, the new portfolio of foreign investment opportunities will be presented, which this time brings a greater number of local government projects.

     The current portfolio of business opportunities includes 139 of these plans, 35 more than the one presented in last year's edition of the largest Cuban commercial exchange and one of the most significant in Latin America and the Caribbean.

     Precisely in his speech last July before the National Assembly of People's Power, the Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, Ricardo Cabrisas, said that foreign capital should have a greater presence in the progress of the territories for their contribution to exports and for the recovery of traditional productions of those areas.

    Cuba seeks to attract foreign investments, always taking into account the strategic axes contained in the National Economic and Social Development Plan until 2030 for a greater welfare of its citizens.

    This is an area in which the country has worked to eliminate obstacles that negatively affect the attraction of foreign capital, and to generate new opportunities that are attractive to foreign entrepreneurs.

  In view of the country's complex economic situation due to the intensification of the US blockade and the more than two years of the COVID19 pandemic, this updated portfolio of business opportunities has new plans aimed at supplying the domestic market with basic necessities and supplies for the national industry.

   According to the authorities, work has been done to increase investment in priority sectors such as food production and transportation, which are experiencing serious difficulties.

    Seven hundred and twenty-nine projects are included in this update, which will surely arouse the interest of businessmen participating in the expected International Fair in Havana.  

As of last May, according to the authorities, there were more than 300 businesses with foreign investment in the country, a figure that includes 167 International Economic Association contracts, 106 joint ventures and 57 of totally foreign capital.  

 Investors from 40 nations participate in these projects, with a greater presence of Spain, Italy, Mexico, Vietnam and China, among others.    

Cuba has stressed that even in the difficult conditions of recent times and the threat of sanctions due to the extraterritorial nature of the blockade, many businessmen have stood by our side and many more have expressed their interest in investing in our country, given its potential and the preparation of its human resources.