HAVANA, Cuba.- The blockade remains the main obstacle to the development of relations between the two parties, Cuban Vice-Minister of Agriculture Jose Rodriguez said this Thursday.

The official was one of the speakers at the opening of the Cuba-United States Agricultural Business Conference at the National Hotel, in which he called on the American farmers to oppose the hostility that for more than half a century Washington keeps against the island.

Rodriguez explained the blockade prevents Cuban producers from accessing external financing, and American farmers to participate in investment opportunities in Cuba.

The Deputy Minister of Agriculture asked the participants at the Cuba-United States Agricultural Business Conference to explore the productive potential and the possibilities of exporting Cuban products to the American market.

A Bilateral Commission

The Vice-president of the Agricultural Coalition for Cuba, Paul Johnson, said they work on a bilateral commission that establishes the real conditions of trade for that sector between Cuba and the USA.

That gives us the possibility of knowing which roads we are advancing by, Johnson reaffirmed in the opening in Havana of the Cuba-United States Agricultural Business Conference.

The Coalition coordinator, Philip Peters, advocated preserving the relationships that still exist between the American Secretary of Agriculture and the corresponding Cuban Ministry.

For his part, the Republican rep for Arkansas, Rick Crawford, stated that both sides have now been much closer than they had been in the past, which he saw as an opportunity to move forward jointly in agricultural trade.