• Submitted by: manso
• Editorial Articles
• 12 / 11 / 2010

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The Herald Sun.By Edward Walsh.Guest columnist. As North Carolina continues to feel the impact of the worst recession since the Great Depression, our farmers, travel agents, producers of bio-medical products and scores of other manufactured goods look for new markets and hope for the future. Why cannot our current state political leaders see Cuba as a trading partner for the very near future?

Recently, the European Union was given the thumbs up by the Cuban government to establish a business school in Havana. Cuba is changing and the rest of the world sees it coming while our political leaders and their advisors remain stuck in a Cold War mentality. U.S foreign policy toward Cuba is hurting its own citizens and business interests.

North Carolina has the opportunity to be at the forefront of the emerging market Cuba presents. If our state's political leaders continue to ignore this door of opportunity at its early stages, they will find themselves standing in a long line of other states hoping to make deals with a market-starved population.

Cuba remains the only nation on the face of the earth to which we cannot travel without the permission of our government.

North Korea -- you can travel there without requesting permission. Iran, same deal! Syria, Sudan, China, Vietnam, no problem! It seems that the human rights records of these nations are of no importance regarding our travel, while Cuba is held to a different standard.

North Carolina could be a major player in moving the federal government to allow U.S. citizens to trade with and travel freely to Cuba if our leaders can shed their Cold War jitters, which lack logic and common sense.

According to the Latin American Working Group, the American public (70 percent) feels that all Americans should be free to travel to Cuba. When it comes to the political arena, Republicans (62 percent), independents (66 percent) and Democrats (77 percent) favor this freedom.

In December of 2000 it was my privilege to serve as a consultant to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture in planning our state's first agribusiness delegation to Cuba. Since then, our farmers have made several million dollars in sales to Cuba. Yet, due to the federal laws, our state's farmers and agribusinesses face complicated restrictions in making such sales.

North Carolina's current sales of agriculture products to Cuba are a fraction of what they could be if the N.C. Department of Commerce and governor would exert pressure on the federal government. Our farmers need the support of state government to lead the changes that would give unfettered access to the Cuban market.

Over the last decade, U.S. food sales to Cuba have averaged $300 million a year. A few years ago, the previous administration in Washington tightened trade regulations. This led to U.S. sales going down and sales for our global competitors going up. Cuba is going to buy food to feed its people. Will it be from the U.S. and North Carolina farmers or from China, Vietnam, Russia, Brazil and the European Union?

For nearly 50 years we have had an embargo on Cuba. It has done nothing to change Cuba's political and economic system, but the rules restricting trade and travel have cut us off from market opportunities that would create jobs and help businesses here at home. The voices of the people of North Carolina need to be heard by our representatives in Washington, D.C., and by our own North Carolina political leaders. Will they listen? Will they respond?

Ned Walsh's mission and consulting work has taken him to Cuba more than 40 times in 17 years.

Source: The Herald-Sun - North Carolina can lead trade with Cuba