Paris.— An important business forum was held on February 2, during the President of the Councils of State and Ministers of Cuba, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz’s visit to France.
The event was organized by the French Business Confederation (MEDEF), a non-governmental institution composed of hundreds of thousands of businesses from the country.
The Cuban delegation to the meeting was led by Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, a Council of Ministers vice president; together with Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz; Director General of the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM) Office, Ana Teresa Igarza; and Cuban Ambassador to France, Héctor Igarza.
On arrival at the organization’s headquarters, the group was received by MEDEF President, Pierre Gattaz and Jean Burelle head of MEDEF International.
The potential to further develop bilateral economic relations, a process being driven forward by high-level talks initiated during French President François Hollande’s visit to Cuba in May last year, and continued in the context of the Cuban president’s recent trip to the European nation, were discussed in a brief introductory meeting.
In his opening remarks to the forum, which saw the participation of over 200 French businesspeople and representatives from specialized press agencies, Burelle reaffirmed MEDEF’s commitment to promoting business with Cuba, recalling that the institution has organized 10 business missions to Havana over the last 15 years.
For his part, vice president Ricardo Cabrisas commented on the current state of bilateral economic relations between the two countries; highlighting the six accords signed in the presence of both heads of state at Élysée Palace.
He explained that the successful conclusion last December, to negotiations with the Paris Club ad hoc group to restructure Cuba’s debts, established the bases to sign a related debt agreement with France - facilitating Cuba’s access to medium and long-term financing from institutions such as the French Development Agency (AFD).
Cabrisas emphasized the importance of the signing of a Bilateral Economic Agenda, which lays the groundwork for the development of economic relations over the medium and long-term, in sectors such as tourism, energy – in particular renewable – transport, agribusiness, science, technology and urban development.
Later, Minister Rodrigo Malmierca gave a presentation on the performance of the Cuban economy and the process of implementing policy guidelines, with a particular focus on foreign investment and its associated regulatory framework as established in Law 118, which offers guarantees and incentives to international investors. He presented the latest version of Cuba’s Portfolio of Foreign Investment Business Opportunities, which includes 326 projects across 12 sectors, a French version of which was made available to the MEDEF.
Malmierca noted Cuba’s desire to diversify its international economic relations and broaden its access to different markets, providing large, medium and small French companies with concrete opportunities to establish businesses in Cuba.
The director of the ZEDM Office, Ana Teresa Igarza, explained the objectives of the Zone, which has its own regulatory tax framework offering greater incentives to investors and which benefits from the development of infrastructure associated with the Port of Mariel, where Cuba has made sizeable investments to build a modern container terminal in a deep water bay.
After the presentations, the Cuban delegation responded to various questions about business opportunities in sectors such as agribusinesses, energy, tourism and telecommunications.
The event was widely reported in the French press, which highlighted the positive prospects for the development of economic relations between the two countries.
