A delegation of some 30 Brazilian businessmen will travel to Havana to boost trade with Cuba and rebuild bilateral relations.

Brasilia.- The trip will include businessmen from the air transportation, agriculture, energy, and health sectors.

The journalists media assures that the mission will take place before Lula da Silva’s trip to Cuba, where he will meet with his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and will participate in the meetings of the Group of 77 plus China on September 15 and 16th.

The Exame magazine stated that Brazil’s ties with Cuba deteriorated under the administration of the far-right president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), although they were never completely severed. It also noted that “since taking office in January, Lula has sought to rebuild relations with Cuba and Venezuela, and met with Díaz-Canel on the sidelines of a global financial summit in Paris earlier this year.”

According to Jorge Viana, president of the Brazilian Agency for the Promotion of Exports and Investments (APEX), who is leading the trip, this created an opening for businessmen eager to strengthen business relations. “We have the opportunity to resume our commercial relations after the previous Brazilian government left Cuba aside,” Viana said in a statement. “It doesn’t make sense for Brazil to turn its back on the countries of Central America and the Caribbean, including Cuba, as we have done in the last four years,” he said.

According to APEX, Brazil is the fourth largest supplier of goods to Cuba, after Spain, China, and the United States, but the volume of its exports in 2022 was just over half of what it sent to Cuba 10 years ago. Food, industrial machinery, transport equipment, and chemical products are the areas with the greatest export opportunities to Cuba.

The creation of a commercial air route linking Sao Paulo and Havana is also expected, APEX revealed. (PL)