Cuba eyeing foreign investment in bottling, electronics sectors

Cuba eyeing foreign investment in bottling, electronics sectors

Published June 19, 2014 EFE



Cuba is looking to attract foreign investment in a range of industrial

sectors and sees special potential for capital inflows to the bottling

and packaging and electronic equipment and appliances industries, a

government official said Thursday.



"The main sectors we're focusing on, the biggest opportunities, are in

the bottling and packaging sector," the Industry Ministry's director of

industrial management, Adriana Barcelo, said just days before the

Caribbean island's new foreign investment law goes into effect.



Cuban manufacturing is at a very depressed level and its development is

key for import substitution and eliminating one of the bottlenecks

hindering local productive chains, Barcelo said at a press conference.



Another sector with very encouraging prospects is electronics and

appliances, she added.



"There's a wide range of products we're seeking to develop and many of

them are already in the prototype and first-test phase, such as

flat-screen TVs, development of the assembly of computing media and

computers," Barcelo said.



Cuba's government also has its sights set on manufacturing electronic

tablets, data-storage media and cellphones to expand the public's access

to those products, the official said, adding that authorities are

working in alliance with industry worldwide, "with a strong presence of

Chinese industry."



Prospects for Cuban industry will be the focus of next week's

Cubaindustria 2014 international convention and exhibition, an event

that is the first of its kind on the Communist-ruled island and which is

expected to draw more than 200 companies from 29 countries, Barcelo said.



The Industry Ministry says the search for "strategic alliances" will be

one of the convention's main goals. EFE



Source: Cuba eyeing foreign investment in bottling, electronics sectors

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