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A delegation made up of Cuban high-ranking officials in the business sector will pay a visit to the United States from January 21 through February 3.
According to a press release from the Cuban Embassy in Washington the visit is intended to exchange on business opportunities and foreign investment between the business sectors of both countries and to promote the existing prospects in the maritime-port sector in Cuba, particularly, in the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM)
During their stay in the United States, the Cuban business representatives will have a wide-ranging program of activities that includes visits to 6 US ports and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the National Port Administration of Cuba and the ports of Florida and Alabama. The Cuban delegation will also hold meetings with leaders of the US Chamber of Commerce and the American Association of Port Authorities and will exchange views with congressional representatives, state authorities and members of the US business community from different sectors.
The European Union and Cuba have signed their first ever agreement on closer ties with the aim of supporting economic development and promoting democracy and human rights on the island.
EU ministers last week agreed to drop a policy in place since 1996 which stated that Cuba first had to improve its human rights standards before getting closer links with the bloc.
The agreement will be signed and concluded as a “mixed” agreement. This means that on the EU side, it must be signed by both the EU and the member states, and ratified by all relevant national and regional parliaments.
The agreement will be applied on a provisional basis, pending ratification by all of the member states.
Provisional application will concern the provisions of EU competence.
Money transfer institutions and companies from 14 countries attend the first International Money Transfer Conferences (IMTC), which takes place this week in Havana.
The First Vice President of the Central Bank of Cuba, Irma Margarita Martinez, said that this event is part of the process of normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States.
IMTC Cuba 2016 conferences: ‘A global overview of remittances’, ‘Latin America and remittances’, ‘Regulation of the financial sector and the transfer companies from the United States’, and ‘Financial relation between United States and Cuba and its continental influence’.
Our main objective of this one-of-a-kind historic event is to explore remittances and its link to financial services in Cuba, as well as migrant services, looking at the past to understand the present & analyzing what the future will bring. We want to witness the transformation first hand, from the role of the banking sector, the emerging non-bank financial sector, the present and the future importance of remittances, the foreign exchange market to the card and mobile financial services developments in the island. We are grateful to Banco Central and Fincimex for their help and to our event manager.
Carnival Corporation’s Fathom Granted Approval by Cuba to Cruise from U.S. to Cuba.
The world’s largest leisure travel company, today announced that Cuba has granted approval for the company to begin travel to Cuba starting on May 1, 2016. Following U.S. authorization granted in July 2015, Carnival Corporation is now cleared to operate the 704-passenger MV Adonia to Cuba through its newest brand Fathom.
This marks the first time in over 50 years a cruise ship is approved to sail from the United States to Cuba.
The approval paves way for Carnival Corporation through its Fathom brand to operate historic full-week sailings from the U.S. to Cuba starting in May 2016.
Iberia has named its third new A330-200 for the Cuban capital city, Havana. The naming of “La Habana”, registered as EC-MJT, marks the 70th anniversary of the Spanish airline’s first flight to Latin America in 1946, when it became the first European airline to fly to the region after World War II.
In 1946 Havana became one of Iberia’s earliest Latin American destinations. After a two-year interruption, in June of 2015 Iberia resumed its services to Cuba, and in less than a year increased seat supply by 30%, raising the number of flights per week from five to seven. As of 1 June it will operate daily return flights between Madrid and the Cuban capital.
The president of the United States, Barack Obama, will arrive in Havana this afternoon to pay an official visit.
The agenda for the visit to be paid by US President Barack Obama on March 20-22 will include official talks, a tour of Old Havana and an address to the civil society.
On Monday, he will hold official talks with his counterpart Raul Castro, and they will give a joint press conference.
Also on March 21, President Obama will pay tribute to Cuban National Hero Jose Marti, a figure that embodies the Cuban people’s feelings, he announced.
On March 22, on the last day of his visit, President Obama will meet with the Cuban people and the civil society at the Alicia Alonso Grand Teater of Havanam where he will give a speech that will be broadcast live nationwide.PL reports