Cuba wants more trade with T&T

Director of International Relations of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce, Mirtha Rippes, wants to see closer trade and business ties between Cuba and T&T. “We do not know each other well enough and this has to change. We must develop closer bilateral relations,” she said during a seminar on Cuba and T&T business ties at the Trade and Investment Convention (TIC) at the Centre of Excellence, Macoya, yesterday.

At present the T&T’s companies operating in Cuba include Angostura, Sacha Cosmetics and Republic Bank. Rippes said the Cuban model is being updated with new laws which open the economy to more foreign investment. “At present, there are 3,000 companies from around the world that do business with Cuba. We are part of the World Trade Organization (WTO). We do trade under the same conditions as other countries,” she said.

Jesus Gonzalez, director of the Economy for the Caribbean Region in Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Commerce said T&T’s economy is booming and Cuba wants to do more business. “Cuba has now developed medical products to fight cancer, we have developed products to fight dengue and we want to put these products in the market. “It would be good if T&T’s authorities consider these products,” he said.