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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