The Cuban Chamber of Commerce president, Antonio Carricarte, described the 17th ExpoCaribe Fair as brief but intense as he closed the event on Sunday.
 
He said that the attendance of 24 countries, mainly from the Caribbean area and after two years of confrontation with Covid-19, confirmed the interest in the Cuban economy and the degree of maturity achieved, especially in the preparation of entrepreneurs.
 
According to preliminary reports, 155 business meetings were held between Cuban and foreign participants, covering the agri-food, health, biotechnology,  biopharmaceutical industries, and tourism sectors.
 
The international economic crisis, which affects small nations more severely, forces us to find creative formulas to move forward, said Carricarte, who emphasized the enormous current and future challenges, mainly in food security, health, and energy development.
 
He considered that the Cuba-Caricom Agreement provides the legal framework to promote those cooperation and integration actions, which must be conducted with practical sense and based on the existing political will.
 
He anticipated the prospect of an event among Caribbean Chambers of Commerce in the upcoming edition of ExpoCaribe, which would become a platform for trade in the region and, consequently, for its economic development.
 
The single windows for foreign investment and exports are two tools set up by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment to facilitate these procedures, said Carricarte.
 
For her part, the governor of the province of Santiago de Cuba, Beatriz Johnson, highlighted the participation for the first time in one of these trade fairs of the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, who toured several stands and talked with officials and workers involved.