:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/7ENQAA6JSFAOVB6N6HV5FTATF4.jpg "The President of Cuba reaffirms his willingness to dialogue with the US Government.")
The President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, reaffirmed this Monday the will of his Government to maintain dialogues with the United States that lead to a rapprochement between the two countries, but on the basis of “equal conditions.”
“We are proposing the will, with all due respect and with all the ability to be on equal terms, to be able to have dialogues that bring both countries closer”declared the president during the inauguration of the International Fair of Havana (Fihav).
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Díaz-Canel said that for a long time “there have been lights” for commercial relations to exist between the two nations, which in the last six decades have maintained a tense conflict and which achieved a pause in the period known as “thaw” between 2015 and 2018.
“We have never put up a barrier with that. It has been the blockade (economic embargo) that has put up the barriers”, pointed out the president.
He also pointed out that Cuba has been “Insisting that foreign investment is also open to North American companies and Cuban-Americans.”
But he considered that, even if there is a will, “the blockade and the restrictions of the blockade prevent many of these negotiations”both to the North American and Cuban sides, and even that “companies from other countries can participate”.
Furthermore, he said that “There has been a lot of progress, steps are being taken” during the talks on the immigration issue held by officials of the two nations the previous week in Havana.
The US Government has adopted several measures in recent months to advance the normalization of the immigration issue, such as the gradual increase in its consular services on the island, the reestablishment of a family reunification program, suspended since 2017, the resumption of commercial flights and the authorization of educational and professional trips.
Cuba It is going through a serious economic crisis due to the combination of the pandemic, the tightening of US sanctions and internal errors in macroeconomic management.
The 38th edition of the Havana Fair – the first after the pause forced by the pandemic – brings together businessmen from 62 countries in the island’s capital until next Friday, including a group of Cuban-Americans and Americans.
Jay Brickman, one of the American businessmen present at the Fihav, told EFE that he sees “A radical approach by the Government of Cuba regarding the private sector and we have seen in this a demand for our service.”
The vice president of the Crowley firm -a company that has been doing business with Cuba for 21 years- described as “only” the experience of his service with the island, above all for “Having learned a lot in the process of how to work in the environment that exists between the two countries.”
Source: Elcomercio
I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.
