“We Want to Strengthen the Partnership between Virginia and Cuba”

FIHAV (Havana International Fair) was once again attended by a significant number of delegations from the United States. Caribbean News Digital sat down with Basil Gooden, Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry for the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, who underlined the interest in strengthening the partnership between Virginia and Cuba.

“We want the Cuban people and Cuban officials to know that Virginia is open for business. We are here to trade and exchange technology and culture.”

Basil Gooden participated in FIHAV 2017 on behalf of the governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, who made his point that “we come here to show that we are open for business and we want to strengthen our partnership.”

As for Virginia’s main products, Mr. Gooden mentioned soybean and poultry. “Our chicken shipments to Cuba have actually grown 400 percent from last year. Right now, Virginia is the third largest agriculture exporter to Cuba, behind Louisiana and Alabama. We’re hoping to get about 33-35 million dollars of business in Cuba this year.”

“We signed a MOU between the Port of Virginia and the Port of Mariel back in 2016 to really increase business, but as you know there was a time period before vessels sailing off Cuba could dock in the United States. We are looking for ways to do more logistics transportation by sea with the port of Mariel, hopefully leaving from the port of Virginia. The governor has a good relationship with the business community here, our Secretary of Commerce and Trade for the Commonwealth of Virginia has a great relationship with Cuban officials.”

He explained that they are looking for every opportunity, “whether it is to the port or however we can get goods and commodities here. We recognize that, when talking about free trade, it goes in both ways. We are interested in boosting the Cuban economy and trying to meet humanitarian needs, address issues that people need here in Cuba. We are excited about being here,” the Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry for the Commonwealth of Virginia said.

We like to say in Virginia that, despite what goes on at federal level, we certainly cannot control president Trump’s administration. We feel that it’s unfortunate some of the activities that are going on, pulling some of the diplomats. We understand that we want to make sure that our representatives and diplomats are safe, but at the same time we want to show that we are part of the global community, part of the world. We feel in Virginia that it is the wrong direction to go, but hopefully we’ll move forward both in the United States and Cuba.

In Virginia we don’t necessarily agree with everything that comes out of Washington D.C. and our congressional delegation is working to open economic avenues where it would be easier to get commodities here in Cuba.

There is no restriction when it comes to sending agriculture goods to Cuba. “We’d like to do more commodities, we’d like to do apples, rice, whatever the Cuban people feel they need. We’d like to send some tractors down here and some equipment. We’re also interested in learning more about some of the agricultural practices in Cuba and we feel that we could introduce some different practices.

There are obstacles, but Virginia stands ready, as well as other states in the U.S., to continue to build our relationship with Cuba, since it will be mutually beneficial.