European and U.S. companies look to break into Cuban market the Havana International Fair

Nov 09, 2015 European countries were heartily represented at the recently concluded Havana International Fair.

Germany, France, Belgium and Great Britain displayed products at the fair, which was aimed at promoting Cuba’s changing business climate..

The EU’s Ambassador to Cuba, Herman Portocarero, said many European countries have had long standing relationships with the Caribbean nation.

“We have deep roots in Cuba from several countries and the European Union as such, has an adult, mature relationship (with Cuba) that also has a lot of expectations for the future. We can still make the commercial relationship a lot better by continually diversifying Cuban exports to the European Union which are still far too traditional. We need to find products of greater value that will create more jobs. The European market is not easy to break into,”

Also speaking at that fair, Kai Patzold, a representative of a German company that specializes in catering equipment said:

“We sell a lot of products to Cuba via our suppliers in Canada, Panama and Italy and given the demand we have, we have decided to come here directly to sell our products. This is our first year at the fair and we are seeing that the market is opening up to these things. Up until now it has been very closed by the Cuban state and now it is opening up a lot more to come here directly,”