• Submitted by: lena campos
• Business and Economy
• 11 / 26 / 2013

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Continuing his global road show for the Mariel Special Development Zone, Foreign Trade Minister Rodrigo Malmierca is heading a Cuban delegation that is touring Brazil’s industrial hot spots to draw attention of manufacturers to what is Cuba’s most ambitious economic development project in half a century.

Malmierca’s visits to São Paulo, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul and Rio de Janeiro come after Mariel presentations to business executives in Hanoi, Beijing and Moscow. On a lower level, Cuban embassies around the globe have been promoting the Mariel Zone as well.

Brazil is funding the $900 million construction of a container hub at the Port of Mariel, 30 miles west of Havana. The port is the core of the 180-square mile export zone to which Cuba is trying to attract high value-added companies, offering tax breaks and other incentives.

One Brazilian company, glassmaker Fanavid SA, has committed to opening a plant in the Zone, according to Brazilian government officials. Another one, bus maker Marcopolo, is reportedly considering a move to the Zone.

On Thursday, Malmierca and the Cuban delegation gave a presentation to the Federation of Industries in the State of São Paulo (FIESP), the heart of manufacturing in Brazil. The investment conditions at Mariel are “very interesting from a cost standpoint,” said FIESP foreign relations head Thomaz Zanotto during the event.


Mariel forum in São Paulo Photo: Everton Amaro/FIESP
Cuba’s top targets are biotech, pharmaceutical, renewable-energy, IT, telecom, tourism, food processing, packaging, and real estate development companies.

Malmierca started his Brasil tour with a visit to Brasilia Nov. 19, where he gave Mariel briefings to ministry officials, as well as executives of Brazil’s Foreign Chamber of Commerce, Banco do Brasil and government development bank BNDES. The Mariel presentation in Brasilia came after a meeting of the bilateral economic and trade commission, which was presided by Malmierca and Brazil’s Development, Industry and Trade Minister Ricardo Schaefer.

The Cuban delegation also used the opportunity to give a presentation of Cuba’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry.

Source: CubaStandard.com