Cuba creates foreign trade holding

Cuba creates foreign trade holding



CUBA STANDARD — In a move that will likely affect all foreign companies

that export goods or buy goods, the Cuban government created a large

holding company that includes a dozen of the largest export and import

entities, official media reported.



GECOMEX — short for Grupo Empresarial del Comercio Exterior — was

created as "part of a fine-tuning process of the central state

administration," official reports say. The separation of regulatory and

managerial functions to improve the efficiency of state companies is a

core part of the current economic reforms; GECOMEX joins 11 other

entities called Organización Superior de Dirección Empresarial.



The creation of the company reduces the Ministry of Foreign Trade and

Investment (MINCEX) to a regulatory entity. Foreign Trade Minister

Rodrigo Malmierca will take the helm of GECOMEX; the government did not

announce a new minister.



One of the entities that now reports to GECOMEX is food import Alimport

S.A., the institution most U.S. businesses work with when selling

agricultural products to Cuba.



The other entities that now belong to GECOMEX are food exporter

Cubaexport, sugar and sugar derivatives exporter Cubazúcar, chemicals

importer Quimimport, raw materials importer MAPRINTER, machine importer

Maquimport, scrap metal and steel exporter Metalcuba, consumer goods

importer Consumimport, foreign donation management company EMED, heavy

transportation equipment importer Transimport, technical assistance

management firm Cubatécnica, and informatics and telecommunications

importer and exporter GESEI.



Official reports put the creation of GECOMEX in the context of recent

changes such as the elimination of the Sugar Ministry and its

substitution by holding company Azcuba.



Source: "Cuba creates foreign trade holding « Cuba Standard, your best

source for Cuban business news" -

http://www.cubastandard.com/2013/07/23/cuba-creates-foreign-trade-holding/