San Juan, December 25 (RHC),-- The new scenario created after the announcement by Cuba and the United States that they will move toward normalizing bilateral relations, was the main focus of a meeting this past Tuesday at the San Juan-based US State Department's Office for Puerto Rico between government officials and Puerto Rican business executives to review studies conducted in Puerto Rico in advance of the eagerly awaited US-Cuba rapprochement.

Puerto Rican State Secretary David Bernier presided over Tuesday's meeting. He said many steps have been taken at the Legislative Assembly, as well as among professional and business groups.

Bernier said they have already identified business opportunities in sectors like culture, sports and the arts and pointed to existing bilateral exchange agreements between the University of Puerto Rico and the University of Havana.

Participants in Tuesday's meeting included Ingrid Rivera, Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company and the President of Puerto Rico's Manufacturers Association Carlos Rivera Vélez, among others.

Bernier stressed that his government has already held phone conversations with authorities at the US State Department to assess how Puerto Rico can insert itself in the ongoing US-Cuba negotiations and stressed that the reestablishing of diplomatic ties between Washington and Havana certainly opens new opportunities for Puerto Rico.

The next step, Bernier said, will be sending a Puerto Rican multi-sectoral delegation to Cuba at some point in the first quarter of 2015, between the announced visit to Havana of a delegation from the US State Department and the 7th Summit of the Americas, set for April in Panama.