HAVANA, Cuba. – A total of 156 new projects amounting to more than three billion dollars, incorporates the 2017-2018 portfolio of foreign investment opportunities.

Presented at the inauguration of the Second Investment Forum, as part of the 35th International Fair of Havana in Expocuba, the portfolio is more diverse and integral than the previous one and promotes productive chains.

The Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, reported that the new portfolio introduces a section referring to culture and defines its sectorial policy.

In the context of Cuba’s main trading market, Malmierca pointed out that it also adds a project of insurance activity that extends the policy for the hydraulic sector, essential for the development of this area.

Investing to Reinvigorate Economy

In all, the new portfolio of foreign investment opportunities contains 456 projects distributed in all the provinces of the country; 50 of them are in the Mariel Special Zone of Development.

Tourism is still the sector accumulating most of the projects, and there are 13 related to energy, with emphasis on the development of renewable sources.

In the context of the 35th International Fair of Havana, Malmierca said that the blockade escalate further as the biggest obstacle, and delays in the negotiation processes also persists.

However, the Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment emphasized, new businesses are concretized with a committed capital of two billion dollars, for the first time in accordance with what is necessary to reinvigorate the national economy.

Facilitating Negotiation Processes

The Second Investment Forum, inaugurated today in the context of the 35th International Fair of Havana, contributes to bringing together foreign entrepreneurs and their Cuban counterparts, as well as facilitating negotiation processes.

Almost two hundred representatives from 33 countries attend the forum concluding this Wednesday, and there are arranged 250 appointments between national and foreign companies.

This afternoon the bilateral meetings take place and tomorrow they will offer an update of the Mariel Special Zone of Development, strategic enclave for the economic takeoff of Cuba.

During this day of the international Fair of Havana they take place the national days of China, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Portugal and Vietnam, among others.