ARKANSAS:US farm lobbyists from Arkansas and North Carolina are visiting Cuba to explore business opportunities and stake out positions in the hopes that the USA trade embargo will be lifted and the countries will continue expanding their formal links.
The goal of the trip is to find the best ways to “enhance opportunity for trade between USA and Cuba”, said Hutchinson, speaking ahead of a forum at Havana’s Hotel Nacional with Cuban and Arkansas businessmen.The Republican governor spoke Tuesday to reporters by phone from Havana, where he’s traveling with a delegation of almost 50 people to promote the state and meet with government officials.
Cuban and USA officials on Monday started the first round of talks in Havana to normalize airline services, and President Raul Castro, who is in New York for an unprecedented appearance before the United Nations General Assembly, is meeting with Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He says he supports easing a few of the embargo’s restrictions gradually over time. The challenge, he said, is that sales are now cash-based with Cuba.
