Cuba and Poland hold virtual business forum

HAVANA, Cuba, May 11 (ACN) In order to strengthen trade relations between Cuba and Poland, authorities, businessmen and diplomats from both countries developed an important virtual meeting to promote their exportable products and services.

Andrzej Arendarski, president of the Chambers of Commerce in that European nation, said that the meeting seeks new business opportunities to strengthen the close ties of mutual cooperation between Havana and Warsaw.

For his part, Ruben Ramos, vice-president of the Cuban counterpart institution, said that the current economic transformations in Cuba offer greater possibilities to investors from all over the world, and denounced the impact of the U.S. blockade in the contraction of the Cuban economy, in addition to the complex epidemiological situation caused by the COVID-19.

The space was also propitious for Cuban companies to present the advances and opportunities in strategic sectors such as tourism and health, and the possibility of increasing exportable products such as tobacco, agri-food items and medicines.

Imports and exports between Havana and Warsaw declined last year due to the adverse effects of the new coronavirus pandemic, said Inalvis Bonachea González, director of Commercial Policy with Europe of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment (Mincex).

Despite the fact that the European nation has not implemented foreign investment projects on the island, Bonachea González noted that some Polish businessmen have expressed their interest in establishing businesses in sectors such as health, tourism, industry and energy.

The meeting was also attended by Michal Farys, Chargé d'Affaires of the diplomatic headquarters of that country in Havana, and Jorge Martí Martínez, Cuban ambassador to Poland.

Poland is one of Cuba's trading partners and among the products that Cuba exports most frequently to that European territory are honey and charcoal, while importing foodstuffs such as wheat, poultry and whole milk.