Cuba creates foreign trade holding

Cuba creates foreign trade holding

CUBA STANDARD — In a move that will likely affect all foreign companies
that export goods or buy goods, the Cuban government created a large
holding company that includes a dozen of the largest export and import
entities, official media reported.

GECOMEX — short for Grupo Empresarial del Comercio Exterior — was
created as "part of a fine-tuning process of the central state
administration," official reports say. The separation of regulatory and
managerial functions to improve the efficiency of state companies is a
core part of the current economic reforms; GECOMEX joins 11 other
entities called Organización Superior de Dirección Empresarial.

The creation of the company reduces the Ministry of Foreign Trade and
Investment (MINCEX) to a regulatory entity. Foreign Trade Minister
Rodrigo Malmierca will take the helm of GECOMEX; the government did not
announce a new minister.

One of the entities that now reports to GECOMEX is food import Alimport
S.A., the institution most U.S. businesses work with when selling
agricultural products to Cuba.

The other entities that now belong to GECOMEX are food exporter
Cubaexport, sugar and sugar derivatives exporter Cubazúcar, chemicals
importer Quimimport, raw materials importer MAPRINTER, machine importer
Maquimport, scrap metal and steel exporter Metalcuba, consumer goods
importer Consumimport, foreign donation management company EMED, heavy
transportation equipment importer Transimport, technical assistance
management firm Cubatécnica, and informatics and telecommunications
importer and exporter GESEI.

Official reports put the creation of GECOMEX in the context of recent
changes such as the elimination of the Sugar Ministry and its
substitution by holding company Azcuba.

Source: "Cuba creates foreign trade holding « Cuba Standard, your best
source for Cuban business news" -
http://www.cubastandard.com/2013/07/23/cuba-creates-foreign-trade-holding/