A year ago, the government authorized access to foreign trade activities for entrepreneurs and private businesses in Cuba. But how far have the benefits of the measure been extended?

Those who have already taken part in foreign trade services now have a new experience to boost their business and “influence” the national economy.

Access to foreign trade services by non-state forms of management represents a benefit both for them and for economic dynamism

Cuba received the year 2021 with the implementation of the monetary restructuring policy that, in practice, means the elimination of the dual currency system and other measures deemed essential for the advance of the country’s economic and social strategy.

Private businesses had to assume substantial transformations in their management in order to stay afloat during the cruelest months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reducing staff, changing their productive model, or moving to the delivery service, count as three of the most common actions in a scenario where government protection only extended to the elimination of tax payments.

After two years of efforts to place his products in the international market, Lazaro Rafael Fundora managed to make his first export of 1.08 tons of Persian lemons to Spain in September 2020. By then, he hoped to send a second shipment of avocados to the Old Continent. After many years of perseverance, his wishes have been fulfilled.

Whoever has played the game Snakes and Ladders can easily compare it with the economic policy applied in Cuba during the last few years towards the private sector, or non-state sector in a broader sense. Yes, because on this board when you reach a ladder, you climb it and advance several squares towards the goal, but if you run into a snake, you abruptly descend and lose all your progress.

The company responsible for marketing the brand, Havana Club International, is pursuing the global trend of developing its high-end and most exclusive ranges, and targeting its new products at younger consumers, over the age of 18.

When the XXII edition of the Habanos Festival closed in the Cuban capital on the night of February 28, astronomical figures had been presented by the directors of a company that is recognized worldwide for producing the best Premium cigars and which exclusively markets 27 brands, all rolled by hand, around the globe.

During the Havana International Fair, the largest trade fair in Cuba, the island is presented as a kind of paradise for foreign investment due to the security of the country and the growth potential in more than twenty sectors, among other elements.