A first container stand before the cameras: “Mariel just got moving,” but only the first phase. This morning it was inaugurated by the presidents Dilma Rousseff and Raul Castro. In his speech, the Cuban president said that “a new stage in which we aim to foster substantial investment”, which increase, among other high-tech projects and local development. Dilma , meanwhile , said that ” Brazil intends to be an economic partner for Cuba . The possibilities for joint industrial development are enormous. “
The opening of the Container Terminal entails its insertion into the Cuban and Latin American port system. Raul Castro called the Brazilian funding as “important” and “in favorable conditions “and that, in addition to the Terminal, has assumed the construction of “infrastructure such as roads, networks, railways and the dredging of the bay.”
He announced that they intend the rail network to be in place in the first half of 2014, “in order to reduce transportation costs and increase efficiency in operations.”
According to the statement by the Cuban President the Mariel Terminal “will be the main entrance and exit point of foreign trade, and its geographical location in the path of the main flows of maritime transportation in our hemisphere , will lead that will strengthen its position as a logistics platform by a regional level. “
In step starting today the Cuban government has expressed an intention to ” promote important national and foreign investments in the Special Zone of Mariel Development, which increase the export , the effective import substitution, the high-tech projects and local development; and to contribute new sources of employment . “
Meanwhile, the Brazilian president said her country “believes and bets on the human and economic potential of Cuba “and” wants to become a commercial and economically of the first order” for the Caribbean island. She considered that the ZEDM will become the key of the Cuban economic development.
As for Brazil, various Brazilian companies expressed particular interest in this area at this time and organize a business summit in Cuba, she advanced.
According to the President, 2013 was a special year for Cuban-Brazilian alliance. A weekly Cubana flight between the two countries, encouraging tourism and trade was implemented. In addition, the “More Doctors”, amounting to 6,658 Cuban professionals were distributed in 2,166 cities and 28 districts, which serve about 23 million people was implemented.
