HAVANA: Historic moves to restore diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba offer the potential to open trade doors with the communist island nation, and Iowa government and business leaders are working to seize advantage of the opportunity.
State Sen. Steve Sodders, D-State Center, is organizing a weeklong Iowa trade mission to Cuba in August, and the Greater Des Moines Partnership plans to send a delegation there on a cultural exploration trip in November for local business people.
Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey says there is not a huge potential for Iowa trade with the Caribbean country, but there is a possibility to sell some Iowa grain, such as corn and soybeans and dried distillers grain from ethanol plants, as well as Iowa meat, particularly pork.
“I think Cuba offers a good market. They import a lot of ag products from places other than the United States and we can replace some of those exports from other countries,” said Northey, who has visited Cuba in the past, although he is not joining Sodders on the upcoming trip.
The Iowa Senate approved a resolution in March in support of increased Iowa trade with Cuba, and Sodders told the Des Moines Register this week he plans to hand a copy of the document to Cuban government officials when Iowans visit between Aug. 20-26. He said he is organizing a diverse delegation that includes representatives from agriculture, manufacturing, financial services and other industries.
Sodders said the idea of an Iowa trade mission to Cuban was proposed by Carlos Portes, a native of Cuba who immigrated to Marshalltown in 1961 and later became a businessman in New York City with international ties.
“Cuban officials have indicated to us that they have a need for all kinds of ag products, from tractors to seeds to expertise. We feel like, ‘Why not have Iowa first? We are No. 1 in all the ag areas that they need,'” said Sodders, who plans to finance his trip with private funds.
Cuba, which was long led by Fidel Castro, is the largest nation in the Caribbean, with a population of more than 11 million people. President Barack Obama in December announced the beginning of a process to restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba and to open an embassy in Havana for the first time since 1961, when President Dwight Eisenhower severed diplomatic ties between the two nations.
Sodders says Iowa has a long history of positive interactions with non-democratic nations to the benefit of Iowa’s business interests without embracing those nation’s political structures or approving human rights violations. He noted the visit of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to Iowa in 1959, and Iowa’s current relationship with President Xi Jingping of the People’s Republic of China.
Meanwhile, the Greater Des Moines Partnership will be returning to Cuba in November after a sold-out trip last fall with 70 people in cooperation with the Ankeny and Urbandale chambers of commerce. The upcoming partnership trip is officially billed as a cultural exploration mission, but it will help connect local business people with a goal of capitalizing on a better diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Cuba, says Partnership Chief Executive Officer Jay Byers.
“This is really geared to people who have not been in the market before, to get an opportunity to learn more about it,” Byers said.
The Des Moines Partnership previously participated in Iowa trips to Cuba in 2002 and 2003, which resulted in some success in signing contracts to sell Iowa agricultural commodities, and there could be more opportunities if U.S. trade restrictions with Cuban are completely lifted, Byers said.
The seven-day Des Moines Partnership trip, which costs $3,599 per person, will feature visits to a number of cultural destinations. Destinations include the Plaza of the Revolution, the Marqueta Vieja Havana Museum, the Cuban Literacy Museum, Hemingway’s Farm Finca La Vigia, and the San Jose Craft Market and Art Center. Participants will spend five nights in Havana, following one night in Miami.