ANDRE WORRELL
CEO of the T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce Gabriel Faria says local companies should look to Cuban market where they are opportunities for business growth.
Faria speaking yesterday at an event hosted by the Chamber entitled A New Era in Commerce: Cuba, The New Frontier, said: "The Cuban market has great potential for Trinidad and Tobago companies. With a population in the vicinity of eleven million strong, business opportunities are rife for the astute manufacturer and service provider."
He said in the Caricom region, T&T is the main exporter of goods and services to Cuba and local companies should continue to build on their presence within the market.
Faria said the bulk of exports from T&T to Cuba are from the petrochemical sector.
He explained: "Currently anhydrous ammonia (98 per cent), mineral products (0.67 per cent) and paper and paperboard products (0.33 per cent) top the list of exports from T&T to Cuba."
Notwithstanding the large portion of energy-related exports from T&T to the Cuban market, he said there are many other areas in the Cuban market for T&T companies to explore.
"According to the Centre for Promotion of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment for Cuba (CEPEC), the most attractive areas for foreign investment in Cuba–based on 2013 data–re energy and energy extraction (42 per cent), tourism (13 per cent), Industry (10 per cent), food (7 per cent), construction (6 per cent), agriculture (4 per cent), transport (2 per cent) and communications and sugar (2 per cent)," he said. Faria added that despite some of the reservations currently surrounding the Cuban economy, T&T companies should move aggressively to seize existing opportunities, as other countries had already begun to do so.
"Fidel Castro's passing last month and an incoming Trump administration in the US creates some measure of uncertainty regarding the trajectory and pace of US-Cuba relations. Notwithstanding the latest developments, the Cuban market offers untapped opportunities upon which T&T companies can capitalise. Many other countries such as Japan, China and Jamaica are also exploring opportunities in Cuba," he said.