Business people from several spheres of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) showed interest today in the attractions Cuba offers for the investment of foreign capital, during the first bi-national business forum opened in Dubai.
Chaired by Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, and UAE authorities, the event was conceived to expose the present situation of the Caribbean island in economy and trade, and promote a portfolio of 246 investment projects.
According to Prensa Latina, the first Cuban-UAE business forum analyzed the mutual desire to know investment opportunities and cooperation in many fields, including health, tourism, economy, trade and real estate sector, among others.
In that sense, in addition to the Cuban minister's speech, UAE business people learned firsthand other relevant issues presented by the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Cuba, Orlando Hernandez, and other members of the delegation accompanying the minister.
Representatives of the Cuban Ministries of Tourism, and Energy and Mines, the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, and the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZED), presented details of the work of their entities.
As occurred in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, previous stages of Malmierca's tour of Middle East, they focused on Law 118 and the aforementioned portfolio for investment opportunities containing projects totalling $8.7 billion USD
Cuban speakers stressed that in recent years, their country began to implement infrastructure works aimed at increasing efficiency and competitiveness of the economy as a whole, one of the most relevant examples is the new Mariel port and the ZED built there.
During the meeting held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Al Jarman and Malmierca also highlighted the communion of interests between the two nations regarding viewpoints of the international agenda, and assessed as positive the state of bilateral ties.