
The Latin American Caribbean Trade Council (LACTC) jointly with the Indian Economic Trade Organization (IETO) organized the India Cuba Business Conference in the city of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala which was attended by the Business community in South India.
The President of the Indian Economic Trade Organization, Dr Asif Iqbal, welcomed the Ambassador of Cuba, HE Alejandro Simancas Marin, in India and pledged the commitment of support between the two nations for a robust partnership. The Ambassador was accompanied by Abel Despaigne, the Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Cuba.
The event was attended by the members of the Kerala state legislative assembly, people of eminence in the state and business representatives.
There is a huge interest in India for Cuba, a country with great scope for bilateral trading opportunities in Pharma, Medicines, IT development, and Industrial development by Indian companies. Specially with Kerala State it has much wider and historic partnership with linkage date back to the Fidel Castro times and the ideological similarities. Cuban presence is well known in the state and Kerala businesses to Cuba which was announced during the function.
India has also in the past extended various credit lines to Cuba through the Exim Bank a line of credit of USD 75 million (over Rs 500 crore) to Cuba for financing solar parks. An agreement was signed between the Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) and Banco Exterior De Cuba in July 2020. India was amongst the first countries to extend recognition to Cuba after the 1959 Revolution.
The Founder of ICL FinCorp, Mr. K.C. Anil Kumar was announced as the Latin American Caribbean Trade Council’s Trade Commissioner for the region. He explained the business prospect and his commitment to bring a positive impact to enhance economic ties with Cuba and hence invited the business community to join the upcoming business delegation to Cuba. He added, “my goal is to build bilateral relations reach new heights between India and Cuba and our forthcoming Indian delegation in March 2023 will see tremendous interest from the Indian side”.
Ambassador of Cuba said, “Indo Cuban trade relations were essential and it was gratifying to see the development of trade relations between India and Cuba”. During his speech, Ambassador Alejandro Simancas recalled historic moments that laid the foundations of friendship, dialogue, and cooperation, which currently exist between Cuba and India, and stressed the opportunity for the Indian trade community to maintain this legacy and continue strengthening ties between the two nations. The Cuban diplomat valued India’s defence of its sovereignty and national independence, as well as its struggle for unity and consensus, concepts with which we fully identify”.
The famous Aranmula Kannadi (Aranmula mirror) was present to the Ambassador of Cuba and other dignitaries during the function which is a handmade, metal-alloy, first surface mirror made in Aranmula, a small town in Kerala, India.
Latin American Caribbean Trade Council (LACTC) is working on building bilateral trade relations by assisting Indian companies that are looking at various projects coming up in the Latin American region for promoting growth in commerce and trade, especially in Indian Pharma which is likely to increase as the Cuban market expands.
Latin American Caribbean Trade Council of India is taking a delegation to Cuba and other parts of South America during 2023 to strengthen mechanisms created for enabling these trade opportunities between India and Latin American region.