Business & Economy

Cuba and Vietnam signed an agreement Monday through which the Asian country – will assist Cuba to increase its rice production. Vietnam is one of the world’s top five rice producers and the third leading exporter of the grain after Thailand and India and ahead of the United States.

The Zaza Dam, Cuba’s principal reservoir, is currently at only 21 per cent of its capacity, due to the deficit in rainfall. The drop in water level could affect the Sur de El Jibaro rice complex, in the central province of Sancti Spíritus

Cuba confirmed today its participation in the Shanghai 2010 World Expo, in which it will have a 500-square-meter stand with a display of its principal products and its culture, reported IPS. An architect and representatives of the Chamber of Commerce will arrive in October to that Chinese city to start the assembly of the Cuban pavilion.

A Boulder, Colorado company was the latest to be fined as a violator of the US blockade on Cuba. Technically speaking, Platte River Associates, was punished for “trading with the enemy,” and fined US $14,500 “for working on a project that involved Cuba.”

The Spanish chain Iberostar Hotels & Resorts announced the opening of its sixth hotel on the peninsula of Varadero, Cuba’s leading beach resort, located 75 miles from Havana. The Laguna Azul (Blue Lake) Hotel is a five-star facility with 814 rooms.

Cuban authorities decided to cancel the operating license of the Dutch bank ING Barinas and the mixed enterprise comprised of the bank and Cuba under the name of Netherlands Caribbean Bank N.V., informed the Central Bank of Cuba. The closure was justified by the fact that ING Barinas has for some time stopped carrying out business on the island.

The Cuban government will begin issuing on Friday licenses for private passenger and cargo transportation, suspended 10 years ago. Many of the collective taxis in the capital are either 1950s US made cars or later models made in the former Soviet Union.

Business delegations from Cuba and Guatemala began today a meeting in the Central American country to explore business opportunities, reported IPS. In 2008 bilateral trade favored the Guatemalan business community, which exported 31 million dollars’ worth of products to Cuba, while the island only exported eight million.

Representatives of the Cuban and US governments will meet later this month in the Cuban capital to discuss the resumption of direct mail between the two countries, suspended since 1963. The talks are in addition to the process of bilateral rapprochement begun last May with the resumption of the migration talks.