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GIC Co-Hosting Second US-Cuba Ag Sales Conference in Havana The U.S. – Cuba
Agricultural / Wood / Medical Products Conference
February 17 - 19, 2003
Havana, Cuba Presented by
A Federation of U.S. State Farm Bureaus
in association with
Americans for Humanitarian Trade with Cuba
World Development Federation
The GIC Group
Alamar Associates
and
Site Selection Magazine The U.S. – Cuba Agricultural/Wood/Medical Products
Conference will be held in Havana, Cuba on February 17 – 19, 2002 at the Havana Convention Center. Building upon the success of the initial U.S. – Cuba Agricultural/Wood Products Sales to Cuba Business Conference
held on January 30 – February 1, 2002 held in Cancún, Mexico, the Havana conference will include agricultural, wood, medical and pharmaceutical products, will build on the U.S. marketing effort to ensure broad state and
local government participation along with strong business and congressional support; and the conference will target a U.S. attendance of over 600, up from the 200 plus attendance in Cancún, Mexico.
For further information, please contact Daniel Secondi at 703-684-1366 or via Email at CubaConference@gicgroup.com.
What delegates to Cancún said about the Conference:
"The "Cancún".Business Conference was a great success and I am glad I could be part of this
historic event". Mr. Hans Pittinger, Vice President Global Accounts, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics."I'm still wading through the information that was delivered and am making plans to continue with
this true market development exercise that was so articulately put together by yourself and other meeting organizers." Mr. Mark A. Steed, President, Northarvest Bean Growers.
"As a producer of grains, oilseeds, and red meat, it was both exciting and encouraging to hear the words of the Cuban officials. They showed their true and immediate desire to purchase these
products. It is always exciting when someone else really wants the farm products you can offer" Mr. Bob Phelps, Illinois producer and Illinois Farm Bureau Board Member. What's New?
In July 2002, the U.S. government took a significant stand in easing restrictions against trade with Cuba. It announced new regulations that allowed for the direct sale of certain goods to Cuba by U.S.
companies.
Congress, along with the Departments of Commerce and Treasury, specified that the sale of U.S. agricultural products to Cuba be allowed under simplified procedures.
Products included in the new regulations are bulk grains, meats, dairy foods, processed foods, snacks, juices, waters, soft drinks and alcoholic drinks, wood, lumber, seeds, fertilizers, and
natural fibers, as well as medical items. [See www.WDSweb.com
for more information on the Agricultural Appropriations Act of 2001 (the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act)].
These new regulations paved the way for major new markets for the U.S. business community. The Cubans, who currently pay costly overseas transportation and middleman costs, are open to
dealing directly with the much-closer U.S. producers. And in late 2001 and early 2002, Cuba took advantage of these new regulations and spent $75 million on major agricultural purchases.
Additional purchases by Cuba are expected in 2002.What this Conference Offers
This conference does not intend to raise issues of political "correctness" of U.S. current trade policies. Rather it will deal directly with how U.S. business can take advantage of the new regulations.
This will be the second, full-scale conference for agricultural/wood/medical product sales to discuss the new regulations, policies, and licensing procedures. We are inviting speakers (U.S. and Cuban)
who will be able to talk about the various aspects of selling to and "doing business" in Cuba. We will include U.S. and Cuban government officials with the responsibility to regulate U.S. sales or
purchase of U.S. goods for Cuban consumption.
An Opening Conference Reception is planned for the evening of Sunday, 16 February. Breakfast
meals will be provided by the hotels with networking lunch meals provided at the Havana Conference Center. The morning and early afternoon conference program includes keynote presentations and
panel programs lead by senior U.S. and Cuban officials and other invited speakers. Afternoon tours will leave each afternoon from the conference center for locations such as the Havana port, the Free
Trade Zone, Hospitals, pharmaceutical plant, co-op farm, visit with a family doctor clinic, Dollar Stores for marketing of processed foods. Cultural evening events are planned for Monday, 17
February and Tuesday, 18 February. All U.S. delegates will return to the U.S. by charter flight from Havana to Miami on Thursday, 19 February.
Networking time throughout the conference is included in the schedule. Cuban officials are expected to make themselves available for one-on-one meetings with delegates.
Marketing and Logistical Issues
As with the Cancún conference, the Havana conference will be presented by a coalition of U.S.
State Farm Bureaus in association with the Americans for Humanitarian Trade with Cuba, the World Development Federation, by The GIC Group, and Alamar Associates. Other conference
sponsorships will include many who were sponsors in Cancún and other sponsorships will be solicited from the agricultural, wood and medical/pharmaceutical business community.
Licensing for this conference will be arranged through the Americans for Humanitarian Trade with Cuba (AHTC), and the Center for Cuban Studies. Both licenses will cover all invited delegates.
Because travel from the U.S. to Cuba must be under license, INTERPLANNER, a licensed travel service provider based in Washington, D.C., has been selected and will be working to coordinate all
charter flight arrangements from Miami to Havana and return, hotel reservations, airport bus transits, tour bus services, and reservations for restaurants for the delegates.
Airline service will be from Miami via charter service on Sunday, 16 February. Currently five hotels are planned to provide a choice in location, room rates and amenities: Santa Isabel Hotel in Old
Havana, the Nacional Hotel, the Habana Libre Hotel, the Melia Habana Hotel, and the Hotel Palco. Why Be A Conference Sponsor In Havana, Cuba?
Sponsors will place their company names before top Cuban officials in Havana who will be responsible for more than $4 billion in annual imports once U.S. – Cuban relations are normalized.
Under the current, revised agricultural/wood/medical export policies, the door for sales to Cuba – a potentially significant buyer of U.S. agricultural/wood/medical products – is open.
U.S. business interests have watched for years as the Cold War and domestic politics made Cuba as distant as North Korea or China. Now is the beginning of the future. Cuba is not just a pretty
Caribbean island and hour's plane ride away from Miami, but a potentially profitable and reliable customer.
Today's sponsor is tomorrow's top player in Cuba in one of the largest new market opportunities for
U.S. business. What This Conference in Havana Offers:
- Opportunities to meet and talk
with companies that have successfully navigated the complex U.S. federal regulatory system to obtain licenses and have sold to Cuba. Also, an
opportunity to talk with companies that have failed in their attempts to sell to Cuba and the lessons they learned.
Senior Cuban officials from key ministries and agencies to answer questions on what they want to buy, their purchasing procedures, customs, health and business laws, taxes and
tariffs, transportation and warehousing, and infrastructure.
Unprecedented opportunities to network with the real players who are doing business in Cuba or are seriously planning to expand into Cuba as U.S. policy evolves toward normalization of relations.
Opportunities for U.S. federal regulators who are responsible for the interpretation and enforcement of our trade policies with Cuba, travel to Cuba, and doing business in Cuba to attend.
Third parties for loans, sales payments, and in-country representation.
Conference materials that will provide delegates with a "cookbook" of step-by-step procedures for selling in Cuba.
Information on infrastructure: phones, internet connections, hotels, roads, ports, warehousing (bulk, refrigerated, specialized), free trade zones, airports, rail, universities and technical schools.
Key contacts with individuals with years of experience and advice on travel to Cuba, marketing and sales, governmental relations, Cuba contacts, and technical requirements
such as shipping, customs, and health.
Future opportunities.
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