Cuba offers opportunities for Irish companies

Cuba offers opportunities for Irish companies
03 October 2010 By Nicola Cooke

A new business network to aid Irish businesses that want to invest in
Cuba or create new markets there has been established with the backing
of the Cuban Embassy in Ireland.

The Irish Cuba Business Network ( IC BN) was launched in Dublin last
week to promote trade and investment with the Caribbean island and to
assist Irish companies interested in doing business there.

Tax-free profits for such investments - along with a market of 11
million people and projected tourism growth to four million visitors by
2012 - are just some of the incentives, according to Martin Connolly,
founder of ICBN.

A partner with Hospitality Business Reports (HBR),Connolly visited Cuba
last May, at the invitation of the Cuban Ministry of Tourism, to discuss
the opening of an Irish gastropub and music and arts centre in Old Havana.

His background in the hospitality industry in Ireland and Britain -
where he developed several 'authentic' Irish pubs - was the reason for
the invitation. A site has now been selected for the co-joined venues in
Old Havana, and construction will commence in the coming months.

''There are major opportunities for Irish companies," Connolly said.

''Cuba is like Ireland was in the 1970s and 1980s: we had visitors but
not the infrastructure or standards they required.

Tourism projects, like hotels, golf courses and marinas, food
processing, packaging, renewable energy, oil exploration and biotech are
among the priority sectors for foreign investment.

''Irish firms can form joint ventures with Cuban companies or enter into
business as a foreign capital company without the involvement of any
national investor. Since 1995 expertise and investment has come from
over 45 countries - 50 per cent of them EU countries.

''Should the current process in the US Congress aimed at lifting the
travel ban for US citizens to Cuba succeed, tourism is expected to
double to four million by 2012 and 10,000 extra hotel beds will be
needed for this."

A tradeshow on investment will be held in Cuba next month, at which the
ICBN will feature.

''Relations between Ireland and Cuba are developing and both sides have
indicated interest in strengthening links in various areas," said
Teresita Trujillo, the Cuban ambassador to Ireland.

''After the visits of both our Ministers for Foreign Affairs in the last
year, we have identified the potential for further cooperation in the
fields of trade, investment, education, science, culture and sports,
among others.""

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