Joaquín Samperio clarifies that “there are possibilities and offers, with risks involved”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 3 November 2024 — To do business in Cuba it is necessary to “know the dynamics of the country,” where there are “risks” and “possibilities,” Joaquín Samperio Sañudo. says in an interview with EFE, speaking as president of the Association of Spanish Entrepreneurs in Cuba (AEEC).
The organization, the only one of national character legalized on the Island and with more than 250 associates from multiple sectors, celebrates its 30th anniversary from this Sunday, a “very important landmark” despite the “complex” situation that the country is experiencing, says Samperio in reference to the serious economic and energy crisis that the island suffers.
The celebration coincides with the International Fair of Havana (Fihav), the largest business event in the country, where Spain is once again the country with the greatest representation, with 63 companies, five pavilions (including that of the Basque Country) and three chambers of commerce (Guipúzcoa, Cantabria and Lugo).
“We try to give them a clear X-ray of the country’s situation,” says Samperio
“There is business. If all of us are here, it is because there are possibilities, there are offers, … with the risks that they entail,” explains Samperio.
Here the AEEC plays an important role informing potential Spanish investors. “We try to give them a clear X-ray of the situation in the country,” says Samperio, who clarifies that his “mission is not to encourage or discourage.”
“The main thing I tell them when they come to see me is that they have to understand the characteristics of the country. It is a country with a state economic model, and that radically changes the vision of the business we do in Spain, France, Peru, Panama and Brazil. This is a totally different model,” he says.
Samperio recalls the importance that Spain has at the economic level in Cuba. If the energy factor is eliminated, the European country is the first trading partner of the Island and carries special weight in a critical factor, the food sector.
About the economic situation, the president of the AEEC says that Cuba is in a particularly difficult situation because of the complex world situation added to the US sanctions.
It greatly affects all decisions and the economic policy that is developed in the country,” says Samperio and adds: “It’s a big problem, a great handicap.”
In this area, the effect of Cuba’s inclusion in Washington’s list of countries that sponsor terrorism stands out, which in his opinion was a “slap” to tourism, one of the country’s main sources of foreign exchange.
The pandemic, the tightening of US sanctions with Trump (2017-2021) and failed economic policies have aggravated the structural problems of the Cuban economy and led the country to one of its worst crises in decades, with shortages of basics, galloping inflation, massive migration and frequent blackouts.
The 2021 decision to allow Cuban private initiative again, says Samperio, has generated a new “quite important” sector
The 2021 decision to allow Cuban private initiative again, says Samperio, has generated a new “quite important” sector with which foreign entrepreneurs can interact, although in his opinion also some uncertainty.
“We are in a moment of putting order in the private sector in Cuba. It has only been two years and, like everything new, over time you have to put order into it and put it in its place,” explains the Spanish businessman: “the country is in a moment of change, little by little.”
Samperio, who expects a “good presence of the authorities” in the activities commemorating the 30th anniversary of the AEEC, assures that they maintain a “very good dialogue” with the Cuban Government, which gives “moral support” to Spanish entrepreneurs.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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