The new law on foreign investments approved last week by the Cuban parliament, and in force as from 28 June, was presented at the foreign ministry in Rome. The event, organised by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Embassy of Cuba in Italy, in collaboration with the MFA, MISE, ICE and IILA, took place in the presence of, among others, Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade of Cuba Ileana Nunez Mordoche, MFA Director General for Globalisation Luigi Marras, MISE Director General for Internationalisation Policies Giuseppe Tripoli and UNIDO Italy Director Diana Battaggia. The new legislation aims to attract foreign capital and diversify Cuba’s international partnerships, and falls within the broader scope of implementing the Cuban economic model launched in 2011 by President Raul Castro, which is still in the development phase.
“This process”, Tripoli stated during the meeting, “is important and has great significance for the Cuban economy as it will facilitate modernisation and boost production capacity. Trade between Cuba and Italy is already good, but there is room for further growth, both at commercial levels as well as in terms of development cooperation”.
The Italian cooperative model
Along the same lines, Marras underscored how our country has maintained “positive relations with Cuba in many international cooperation fields, particularly in regard to business cooperation. Italy’s cooperative system is a model that it would like to reproduce, albeit duly adapted, in Cuba. The expansion of the partnership network is an important step in relaunching Cuba’s international position and making it possible to better seize the opportunities that could present themselves”.
