Havana. Under the chairmanship of the Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade and Foreign Investments (MINCEX), Ileana Nuñez and the Italian Ambassador to Cuba, Andrea Ferrari; the first Bi – National Cuba-Italy meeting, called to manage the Equivalent Funds provided in the bilateral debt treaties signed last July. For Cuba, there were officials from MINCEX, the Ministry of Economy and Planning and Banco Nacional de Cuba. Italian officials of MAECI, AICS, and SACE and technical advisers from the embassy in Havana attended the meeting. The work initiated by the National Bi-Committees is another tangible sign of the strengthening relations between Italy and Cuba in recent years, providing a tool to support Italian companies interested in investments and projects with local counterparts, as provided for by the Debt Reform Agreements of last year. The Cuban Government is required to convert part of the trade worth 88.6 million Euros into a local currency fund intended to finance strategic projects for the development of the country where Italian companies, preferably small and medium-sized, or Italian-Cuban joint ventures are involved. (9Colonne)
