Cuban Fairs Keep Sneaking Up On the World

Beginning next November 1, Havana’s International Fair will come around with its 22nd edition, ready to bear out its importance as the island nation’s most efficient tool of trade promotion and business operations.

Organizers are expecting a massive turnout of over 1,100 companies from 40 countries that will come to Havana to showcase their products in EXPOCUBA, the nation’s largest fairgrounds, in the outskirts of the capital.

Amid tough economic conditions now affecting many countries around the world, planners of FIHAV 2004 hope to see a similar attendance rates to those logged in the previous edition a year ago.

This tradeshow, penciled in as one of the major events of its kind in the whole region, plays a significant role in finding ways to get around the economic embargo the U.S. has kept on Cuba for over four decades.

Despite FIHAV’s undisputed spot as Cuba’s number-one fair for the past twenty years, it’s not the only one held in the country. Over a dozen similar gatherings –though smaller in size and scope- take place annually on the largest Caribbean island.

Some of them are labeled in a more general category, like FIHAV and EXPOCARIBE, in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba, with a view to promote businesses with neighboring countries. Other tradeshows, more specialized and monographic, have been increasingly catching on in recent years.

A case in point is the International Transportation Fair (FIT is the Spanish acronym), whose latest edition last month churned out unprecedented volumes of business operations and visitors.

Attendants to FIT signed letters of intention, cut deals and inked contracts worth $105 million.

This particular exhibition –organizers pointed out- laid bare the muscle of a sector that has managed to get by regardless of economic and trade sanctions imposed by the U.S. government.

More than twenty nations were represented at FIT 2004, an event that this time around boasted great integration abilities as it brought the railroad, maritime, ground and air services together.