Shubhajit Roy
Posted online: Thursday, May 08, 2008 at 0037
The delegation will strike deals on computers, TV sets, refrigerators
and medicine
NEW DELHI, MAY 7 : As President Raul Castro's Cuba allows computers and
cell-phones as it steps towards economic reforms, the biggest-ever Cuban
trade delegation will be landing in India next week to talk business and
strike deals to buy computers, television sets, refrigerators, medicines
and food.
The delegation is likely to meet Commerce minister Kamal Nath,
Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and Minister of State (External
Affairs) Anand Sharma in the government and representatives of the Tata
group, Exim Bank, CII, ITPO, State Trading Corporation and members of
trade organisations during its 10-day visit.
Led by Cuba's Deputy Foreign Trade Minister Eduardo Antonio Escandell
Amador, the 26-member delegation will comprise officials and business
leaders from Cuba. Cuba's ambassador to India, Miguel Angel Ramirez
Ramos, told The Indian Express, "This is the largest business delegation
from Cuba in the history of India-Cuba relations, coming from both
government and private sectors, which is coming here to look for
business partners and suppliers of a whole range of products. Time is
ripe for bilateral ties and trade to take a leap."
The team will land in Delhi on May 17 and will be spending most of the
time in the Capital, before going to Mumbai. They fly back on May 28.
The team from Cuba has a huge shopping list: members from the power
enterprises in Havana are looking for power equipment for their
transmission and distribution system, officials from Medicuba are
looking for suppliers of medicines and medical equipments, and a
marketing head of a Cuba-based appliance firm will be looking for
suppliers of home appliances, vacuum cleaners, and a representative from
the Cuban textile ministry will be looking for cloth suppliers.
Ramos said, "In the '80s, the trade between India and Cuba was to the
tune of $300 million, which is now down to $30 m. We want the bilateral
trade to come back to the same level as that in the past. That is our
immediate target, and then we can grow from there."
Cuba's bilateral trade with China is pegged at $3 billion, Ramos says,
which is 100 times more than India. "There is a lot of scope in growth
of trade ties between the two countries, which has slipped downwards in
the last 15 years due to financial difficulties on both sides," he said.
The visit assumes significance as the last four years of Left
supported-UPA government have witnessed increased diplomatic activity
between India and Cuba. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Havana to
attend the NAM Summit in September, 2006. Union Ministers Rao Inderjit
Singh, Anand Sharma, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Vilas Muttemwar too have
visited Cuba.
A cultural exchange programme was signed in Sept, 2005, an MoU on
consumer protection in Sept, 2005, a cooperation agreement in sports in
February, 2007, and a protocol on cooperation in new & renewable energy
was signed in May, 2007.
Ramos, however, said that the ideological dispensation has never come in
between India-Cuba relations. He also refuted reports of lifting the ban
on computers and cellphones by the "biased western media." "Electrical
equipment were not allowed since the country was suffering from power
crisis. Now that the power situation has improved, these electrical
gadgets are being allowed," the Cuban ambassador said.
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