HAVANA, Cuba.- Although it is below the desired levels, foreign investment in Cuba grows, Rodrigo Malmierca, Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment said in presenting the sector’s portfolio of opportunities.

In the context of the International Fair of Havana Malmierca explained the portfolio has 525 projects, 69 more than the previous year, with an amount exceeding 11.6 billion dollars.

The Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment added there are 168 new projects related to livestock, food industry, light industry, steel, tourism and mining, and that more than a hundred are withdrawn because they have concretized, changed their scope or are in negotiation.

In the agri-food sector, businesses cover the production of beef, pork, chicken, as well as grains.

Incentives for Foreign Capital

In presenting the portfolio of foreign investment opportunities in the context of the International Fair of Havana, Rodrigo Malmierca said that the current business figures reinforce the determination to bet on those flows in the Cuban development strategy.

The Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment remarked that that businesses involving more than 2 billion of dollars were approved last year.

On the Mariel Special Zone of Development, Malmierca said that 36 of the 40 new projects are with foreign capital, and seven of them on renewable energy sources.

In this sense, the official reported that they include the construction of four solar parks, three wind farms, and a mixed company for bioelectric, for a total of 587 megawatts of electricity generation with foreign capital.