Brazil to send business leaders to Cuba in push to rebuild ties

TODAY 10:32

Delegation of at least 30 Brazilian business leaders will travel to Havana on Monday in search of opportunities to boost trade with Cuba, the latest step in Lula's push to repair relations between the two nations.



LUIZ INÁCIO LULA DA SILVA. | ARTHUR MENESCAL/BLOOMBERG

A delegation of at least 30 Brazilian business leaders will travel to Havana on Monday in search of opportunities to boost trade with Cuba, the latest step in President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s push to repair relations between the two nations.

The four-day mission will take place ahead of Lula’s own trip to the Caribbean island, where he will meet with Cuba leader Miguel Díaz-Canel and take part in the Group of 77 meetings, a United Nations economic summit of developing countries.

Brazil’s ties with Cuba deteriorated under right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro, although they were never fully severed. Since taking office in January, Lula has sought to rebuild relations with both Havana and Venezuela, and met with Díaz-Canel on the sidelines of a global finance summit in Paris earlier this year.

That has created an opening for industry leaders eager to bolster trade relationships, according to Jorge Viana, the head of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, or Apex, which is leading the trip.

“That’s an opportunity to to resume our trade relations, after the previous Brazilian government left Cuba aside,” Viana said in a statement. “It makes no sense for Brazil to turn its back on Central America and the Caribbean countries, including Cuba, as we have done for the past four years.”

More:
https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/economy/brazil-to-send-business-leaders-to-cuba-in-push-to-rebuild-ties.phtml