Businesseses should explore Cuban opportunities

Tang Nian was making remarks during the question and answer session of a forum entitled “A New Era of Commerce...Cuba the new Frontier” held at the headquarters of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce at Westmoorings.

He said there are opportunities in Cuba but businesspeople need to visit the island themselves in order to get an idea of the opportunities.

He said there are more than 140 embassies in Cuba, more than in the United States, which he said was an indication of the number of countries which are lining up to do business with Cuba. However, Tang Nian said that because of its relationship with Cuba in the past, Trinidad and Tobago has a special advantage.

The EXIMBANK head advised local businesspeople considering doing business in Cuba not to be overly discouraged by what are presented as obstacles to doing business in the Caribbean island, but to do their homework and research and build collaborative relationships with their Cuban counterparts.

He said that one of the advantages to doing business in Cuba was that the Caribbean island was crime free, adding that people could be seen walking the streets in many areas at all hours of the night with no sign of fear.

Norris Herbert, acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, said Cuba is one of the largest economies in the Caribbean with an estimated Gross Domestic Product of US$82 billion and a market estimated at one hundred million persons. He said he had been told by the Cuban Ambassador, Guillermo Vazquez Moreno, who was at the forum, that Cuba had about four million visitors this year with the expectation of increases on that four million. “So for us the numbers are important.” Brian Benjamin, Manager-Projects of exporTT said that while the theme of the forum was “Cuba the New Frontier,” this country has had relations with Cuba for a number of years under the Caricom/ Cuba Trade and Economic Co-operation Agreement which was signed in 2006. He pointed out that the agreement contained four hundred and forty- six products which could be traded between Cuba and TT, adding that Cuba later offered an additional three hundred and ten items for the reduction or elimination of tariffs and Caricom requested that Cuba reduce tariffs on more than thirty other items. He said this amounted to 786 goods that could be traded between Cuba and TT.

“Now, don’t tell me we can’t find 50, and 50 competitive products, that we can’t get into Cuba. Don’t tell me we can’t find some raw materials from Cuba that could be inputs and this is how the agreement works: you can take raw materials from Cuba, bring it to Trinidad, add value, send it back and it will go duty free. You can take raw materials from Trinidad, you can send it to Cuba, it can come back to Trinidad and it will come back duty free. Seven hundred and eighty-six, tell me we can’t be competitive in at least 50 of these tariff lines.”