Pretoria – Government would support companies wanting to take advantage of trade and investment opportunities in Cuba, Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Mzwandile Masina said on Saturday.
Masina returned to South Africa on Thursday after leading a 35-member business delegation, comprising of exporters and investors, to Cuba.
The exporters participated in the 33rd Havana International Trade Fair while a group of investors were part of the first investment mission to Cuba to be organised by the trade and industry department (dti).
“In all our interactions with the Cubans during the two visits that I undertook to Cuba in a week, we have been reiterating the same message that we need to strengthen our economic relations and work hard in order to increase bilateral trade between the two countries,” Masina said in a statement.
“I was inspired by the commitment expressed by both the government and business leaders of Cuba to achieving this goal. We are all sharing the same view that our strong and cordial political relations must be underpinned by tangible growth in trade and investment between the two countries,” he said.
Masina cited the Doing Business in Cuba seminar hosted by the dti in Pretoria in September, last week’s official visit to Cuba by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, which he was part of, and the trade and investment mission he led to Cuba this week as some of the initiatives government had taken to boost economic relations with Cuba.
“Some of the companies that we took to Cuba this week had their first contact with the Cubans during the inward mission by the Cubans that our department organised. It was through this interaction that they identified areas of co-operation, possible joint ventures, and partnerships. They then went to Cuba to take their discussions forward and I am hoping to hear good stories from them when they return home,” Masina said.
While in Cuba, Masina had told the South African business people who were in the country to seek investment and trade opportunities that government would support them in their endeavours to invest in Cuba or trade with Cuba.
He said it should be reassuring to the companies to learn that their investments would be protected in Cuba, as the country had unveiled a new investment law containing a legal framework that guaranteed the protection and security of foreign investments.
He said that in addition to the protection provided by the new Cuban legislation and the bilateral treaty on protection and promotion of investments between the two countries, South African companies would also receive guarantees from the Export Credit and Insurance Corporation (ECIC).
The ECIC is an agency of the dti responsible for insuring the export component of investments made by South African companies abroad.
The Cuban government had published a portfolio of investment opportunities containing 326 projects worth more than US8.1 billion in 12 sectors of the country’s economy with the aim of attracting foreign investments.
The priority sectors included tourism, construction, agriculture, transport, health, renewable energy, mining, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals.
– African News Agency (ANA)