Cuba Looks Towards India for Investment in Major Sectors
Cuba Invites Indian investments in all major sectors including Oil and Gas, Tourism, Mining and Energy Sector including renewable energy, said Mr. Eduardo Escandell Amador, Deputy Minister Foreign Trade, Cuba at the Business Meeting organized by CII today.
This was the biggest trade delegation from Cuba in recent years. The delegation members came from a wide cross section of industry including Tourism, Textiles, Chemicals, Agri-business, Energy, Oil and Gas, Pharmaceuticals, Logistics, wood and paper industry Automobiles and auto-components and Construction industry.
The Minister gave a comprehensive presentation on Cuban economy and industry, listing out the sectors where India and Cuba can cooperate with each other. He said that while Cuba needs to import Food products, Health products, Transportation and energy services from India, India can import from Cuba- Health products and services, tobacco and rum. The Minister specifically spoke about the huge opportunity that the Indian companies had in the Energy Sector where Cuba needed investment in renewable energy, especially eolic energy and hydro energy and also in oil and gas sector.
Referring to the relations between India and Cuba, The Minister thanked Indian Government for reopening the lines of credit between India and Cuba as this will increase bilateral trade between the two.
Earlier, Ms Myra Penichet from the Ministry of Tourism, Cuba, informed the participants about the huge opportunity that exists for Indian companies in investing in the Tourism sector in Cuba. She said that Cuba needs investment of USD 200 million for refurbishment of existing installations, USD 170 million for investing in new hotels and tourism activities, besides requiring investments in roads construction, water supply and water recycling.
Ms Caridad Campos from the Cuban Chambers of Commerce, introduced the Chambers and looked forward to greater business exchange between India and Cuba.
Chairing the session, Mr Chetan Seth, Managing Director, Chemon Group of Companies and Trustee IBEF, said that while historically India and Cuba shared strong political relations, the trade relations between the two countries remains low. He attributed the low trade figures to high transportation cost, small volume of orders for goods, difficulties of access to foreign exchange in the hands of importing entities and payments problems.
Mr Seth welcomed the JVs with Cuban companies especially in the field of pharma and biotech and hoped that the visit of this delegation will increase interest of business on both sides and help in promoting trade and investments between India and Cuba.
