US Commerce Secretary Pritzker in Cuba for embargo talks

US Commerce Secretary Pritzker in Cuba for embargo talks
6 October 2015

The United States Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker has arrived in
Cuba for two days of talks focusing on the US embargo on the
communist-run island.
Ms Pritzker will discuss recent measures approved by the US to mitigate
the impact of the embargo.
Since the US and Cuba announced last year they were restoring relations,
President Barack Obama has pushed for the restrictions to be scrapped.
But he faces opposition from the Republican majority in the US Congress.
Ms Pritzker is the most senior American official to visit Cuba since
Secretary of State John Kerry reopened the embassy in Havana in July.
Shortly after landing in Havana, she visited the Special Enterprise
Zone, an area developed near the Mariel port to encourage foreign
investment.
On Wednesday, she is due to meet the Cuban trade and foreign ministers
for discussions on the embargo.
'Slow pace of change'
The US announced in recent weeks a number of measures to encourage trade
even with the embargo still in place.
American companies will no longer be breaking US law for setting up
premises in Cuba, the US authorities announced.
But the Cuban government needs to lift some of its own bureaucratic and
legal obstacles for the measures to work, says the BBC's Will Grant in
Havana.
There may be some reluctance from the Cuban authorities to allow a
faster pace of change while there are other issues pending, such as new
civil aviation rules, ferry services between Florida and Cuba and
greater internet access.
President Barack Obama met Cuban leader Raul Castro on the sidelines of
the UN General Assembly last week.
Mr Castro told the UN that normal relations would only be possible if
the US abolished its trade embargo.
The first American economic sanctions against Cuba were imposed in 1960.

Source: US Commerce Secretary Pritzker in Cuba for embargo talks - BBC
News - http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-34461415