Cuban ministry of foreign trade analyzes its restrictions and limitations

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 15 (ACN) Executives and specialists of the Cuban foreign trade and investment ministry (MINCEX by its Spanish acronym) analyzed the main barriers and limitations present in the activities within its scope, for the sake of the desired efficiency and impact of the performance of that body in the conditions of an open economy such as Cuba's.

In the face of a tightened U.S. blockade, anti-Cuban measures such as Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, the inclusion of the country on the list of nations sponsoring terrorism, and in the midst of a very complex international economic scenario, as Rodrigo Malmierca, head of the ministry, said, a creative resistance is necessary.

In the presence of Joel Queipo, member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and head of its economic department; and Ricardo Cabrisas, deputy prime minister, Malmierca expressed that exports, import substitution, linkages, the elimination of obstacles and the dismantling of the criminal economic war are still key objectives.

He stated that in 2022, priorities will be the support to non-state forms of management, the increase of exportable products and services, the implementation and updating of the Integral Export Strategy until 2026, the development of the Fund for the Promotion and Diversification of exports and markets.

Malmierca pointed out that in foreign investment activity, the entity will work on improving the way in which projects are conceived, with the participation of companies, scientific centers and local authorities, and on the other hand, it will continue to pay attention to the treatment of the debt with creditors, based on rearrangements and other actions.

The head of the entity explained that agriculture and health are priorities in the integral system for the management of new funds as part of international cooperation, in addition to the updating and promotion of the portfolio of projects, especially those of local development, and of agreements and conventions with other States.

In his conclusions, Cabrisas noted that as a global agency of the economy, MINCEX has to play a greater leading role in the management of this sector, and this is achieved through joint, integrated and systematic work with the rest of the entities of the Central Administration of the State, the local administrations of the People's Power, enterprises and other entities.

He called to work to reduce the approval and negotiation times of foreign investment projects, as well as the procedures related to foreign trade, for a greater execution of international cooperation programs and the fulfillment of export plans, based on an adequate work with the destination markets and more efficiency.

Cabrisas stressed that foreign investment should be promoted in the sectors of food production, renewable energy sources, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, and in this sense, he said that the 130 projects selected from the Portfolio of Opportunities deserve priority in order to materialize them in the shortest possible time.