Washington, February 1 (RHC-PL)-- A Cuban business delegation visiting the United States is holding working meetings in Washington, DC, the latest being with executives of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC), port authorities and Members of Congress.

The Cuban Embassy in Washington reports that the USCC held a roundtable discussion that was presided over by the vice president of its Americas division, Jodi Hanson Bond.  She had visited Havana in mid-January with the Chamber's Chairman, Thomas J. Donohue, who met with President Raul Castro and Finance and Prices Minister Lina Pedraza.

The business delegation also met on Tuesday with Kurt Nagle, Chairman of the American Port Authorities Association, a body that represents 140 ports and 240 maritime providers from Canada, the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean.  Cuban Ambassador Jose Ramón Cabañas, wrote on the Embassy's Twitter account that the visitors were welcome at the U.S. Congress where they held a meeting with the Cuba Working Group.

Before those meetings, the Cuban business people spent two days in Virginia where they met the state secretaries of Commerce, Todd Haymore, and Agriculture and Silviculture, Basil Gooden.

There, they also held a meeting with the state Port Authority and attended the presentation of the Virginia chapter of the Engage Cuba coalition, which is working for lifting the economic, trade and financial blockade that persists after more than 50 years.