Busy Program in Cuba of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture

HAVANA, Cuba, Nov 12 (acn) Thomas Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture of the United States, will carry out a busy program of activities on the island during his working visit, which began on Wednesday and will last for another two days.

Scheduled for Thursday morning is a meeting between Vilsack and his Cuban counterpart, Gustavo Rodriguez, with whom he will speak about the interests of the U.S. agricultural sector and the obstacles that still exist for trade between the two countries, derived from the implementation of the blockade.
Vilsack plans to get to know in Cuba various forms of economic management, such as agricultural cooperatives and meet on Friday with officials of the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and Investment.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Vice-president of the Council of Ministers, Ricardo Cabrisas, received Thomas Vilsack, with whom he spoke abut Cuba's foreign economic relations.
The delegation accompanying Secretary Vilsack is composed of Senator Jeff Merkley (Democrat for Oregon) and Democrat representatives Terri Sewell (Alabama), Kurk Schrader (Oregon) and Suzan Delbene (Washington), and other officials of the Department of Agriculture.
Thomas Vilsack is the third member of President Obama's cabinet to visit Cuba in scarcely three months ¬John Kerry, Secretary of State, in August, and Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker in October- after the reestablishment of diplomatic relations on July 20.