400 joint ventures operating in Cuba in early 2002
Havana_ Joint ventures operating in Cuba added up 400 in early 2002, a figure that stands for a 6% increase as compared to the year before, according to an official report.
“International economic associations,” as they are called by the government, amass a grand total of $US5.4 billion in foreign investments and they shelled out $US1.8 billion in assets and service sales in the year 2001, with $US768 millions in exports, the report highlights.
Last year, Havana gave the green light for the creation of 24 new joint ventures to the existing 376 in the Cuban market, operating on the basis of the Socialist system in place since 1959, but with some innovations introduced after the collapse of the Communist Bloc in 1991.
The report, subscribed by Marta Lomas, Minister of Foreign Investment and Collaboration, points out that Spain, Canada and Italy are the three nations with the greatest number of joint ventures operating on the island nation in association with the Cuban state. These nations have 104, 70 and 57 joint ventures respectively.
The judicial framework in force in Cuba for the operations of these joint ventures is based on the Foreign Investment Act. This piece of legislation states that a previous process of negotiation, assessment and approval of those projects presented by foreign businesspeople interested in investing on the island nation is mandatory before they could get the nod to operate in the fledgling Cuban market.
Tourism and mining, as well as the oil-chemical industry are the chief blocks for foreign investment in Cuba. U.S. firms are ruled out in virtue of the trade embargo Washington maintains against Havana’s government since 1960.
The official report praises that the “good going of the economic collaboration relationships” were clearly showcased in the year 2001 due to the exchanges conducted in that 12-month period with 163 nations, including trade and technical aid projects that embraces Cuba’s reaching out to Latin American, Caribbean
