2023-04-27 10:37:32
The implementation of some projects with foreign capital should be faster in Cuba in the future. With the “Acuerdo 9374”, which appeared in the Law Gazette on April 3, the approval of international economic associations (“Asociación Económica Internacional”) is shifted from the level of the Council of Ministers to the individual ministries. In agriculture and tourism in particular, this should speed up the often lengthy approval processes.
“The internal process of analyzing and approving business proposals involving foreign investments must be adapted to the new realities of the country,” the law’s explanatory statement reads. Especially in the case of food production, the mechanism of economic association promises a better inflow of capital. The Ministry of Agriculture is now targeting this form “as a modality for foreign investment [zu nutzen]to increase agricultural production in the country”. So far, economic associations were mainly known in the context of hotel management contracts in tourism.
In order to speed up the procedures, the ministries of agriculture, finance and tourism will in future be able to decide independently on the approval of projects in their area of responsibility. Previously, all projects had to be approved “by hand” by the Council of Ministers, which investors and economists repeatedly criticized because of the length of the process. Furthermore, the term of corresponding contracts can be extended in the future at the level of the Ministry of Finance. The reform will come into force on May 3rd.
In the context of the current crisis, Cuba is currently looking massively for foreign investors to develop its economy and has removed several hurdles to this end in recent months. In principle, investments are now possible in all sectors, and small-scale projects by medium-sized companies are also welcomed. Only recently was the tender catalog expanded in the areas of the food industry and agriculture. The two sectors are among the country’s three main priorities, alongside the expansion of renewable energies. With the election of the Council of Ministers on April 19, long-serving Foreign Trade Minister Rodrigo Malmierca, who has recently been criticized for his lack of success in reducing bureaucracy, was replaced by Cuba’s chief foreign debt negotiator, Ricardo Cabrisas.
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