U.S. Companies Seek to Expand in the Cuban Market

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 9 (acn) The growing interest in introducing their technologies in the Cuban market is the main motivation of a dozen U.S. companies participating in the 11th International Construction Fair -FECONS 2016.

U.S. companies specialized in the areas of production and sale of materials, engineering, manufacture of pumping equipment and electric generators, met for the first time in the important fair, which concluded on Friday its working days to open its doors to the public on Saturday.
Among the firms represented at the Fair is Tradewinds, a company that produces and commercializes generators and pumping equipment for the residential, industrial and agricultural sectors.
Abraham Vargas, representative of that corporation based in Miami, told ACN that their presence in this Fair is due to the possibilities opened in Cuba as a place for investment, and for the introduction of such equipment in the Cuban market.
The idea is to contribute to the development of the country, said the representative of Tradewinds, who also sees the potential of Cuba in the agricultural sector.
The U.S. company is also present in plantations of Central America as well as in the Caribbean, operating in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Puerto Rico.
Also attending the construction meeting is Lester August, sales manager of the firm Franklin Electric, specializing in the manufacture of pumping systems designed for the irrigation of crops by using solar energy.
Among prospects for his company, with branches in all parts of the world, is to bring this type of clean technology and of great durability to the Cuban countryside, as detailed.
Amid the process towards normalization of relations between Cuba and the U.S., and with the blockade of that country against the island as the main obstacle, Lester considered as positive the steps that have been taken "to close a chapter and open another so that people on both sides can meet as neighbors with many common things to share."
Another company represented is one of parcels service, Apacargo Express, participating for the third time in this type of meeting.
Its general manager, Eduardo Aparicio, told ACN that during the past six years the company has been providing these services to Cuba with the necessary authorization and certification.
Apacargo Express is particularity characterized by having become the first exporter of medical equipment to Cuba to treat skin cancer directly from the U.S., and received by the company MediCuba S.A., importer and exporter of the Ministry of Public health.
Aparicio said that this activity of Apacargo Express is covered by licenses from the Department of Commerce, the Office for Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Department of the Treasury and the State Department.
The corresponding authorizations, in addition to allowing direct exports of equipment, protect the company from the multi-million dollar sanctions imposed each year to entities that "violate" the laws of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by Washington on Cuba.
Apacargo Express is part of the list of the cargo agencies and entities in U.S. territory or in third countries operating from abroad under contracts with Cuban state agencies.
Other U.S. firms, like Abcon Sales, Steel Construction Headquarters LLC and Arroyo Process Equipment Inc., are among the 199 companies exhibiting their latest products in FECONS 2016.