havana

The Catalan Ministry for Business and Knowledge will invest 1.2 MEUR this year to increase Catalonia’s trade and investment office network abroad. In particular, six new centres will be opened in 2017, which will be added to the 36 which are already functioning on each of the five continents. The new offices will be located in Havana, Los Angeles, Tehran, Zagreb, Amsterdam and Nairobi. Thus, Catalan business will be represented in 109 economic regions. “Now Catalonia’s presence in the business field worldwide will be comparable to and even bigger than that of other states”, explained Núria Betriu, Director of Industry of the Catalan Department for Business and Knowledge.

Catalan exports to Cuba grew by 50% in 2015, reaching €294 million. With this in mind, the Catalan Minister for Business and Knowledge, Jordi Baiget, and the director of the centre for the promotion of foreign trade ProCuba, Roberto Verrier, signed on Thursday in Havana an agreement that seeks to strengthen trade relations. ProCuba, under the Cuban Ministry for Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, works to promote the internationalisation of the industry of the country. According to the agreement, Cuba will now provide Catalonia with information on the investment opportunities in the region in order to promote the arrival of new Catalan businesses to the island. Baiget, who is participating in a trade mission to Panama and Cuba organised by the Port of Barcelona and Acció, the Catalan Public competitiveness and internationalisation agency, stated that the measure was “really important”. It implies “direct capacity for dialogue” with the Cuban body responsible for foreign investment, he added.