On Wednesday, May 25, 2016, organized by the White House Business Council, senior White House and Administration Officials provided an update on current and prospective business opportunities available with the restoration of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba. Nearly 200 businesses and representatives from business organizations from throughout the country were in attendance, representing diverse sectors of the economy, from agriculture and construction and engineering to energy and healthcare.
Attendees were briefed by senior Administration officials from Departments directly responsible for overseeing the application of current U.S. – Cuba policy. These included officials from the U.S. Departments of State, Treasury, and Commerce. These representatives underscored that the trade embargo remains in place; however, since President Obama’s announcement of the normalization in relations in December, 2014, there have been changes in regulations governing sanctions. In addition to tourism, many of the sectors where trade is allowed relate to areas of need for the Cuban people, including agriculture, health, and communications connectivity. Permitted exports to Cuba are governed by various levels of licenses: a general license, exceptions to a general license, and a special license granted (See below for addressing inquiries to relevant U.S. government Departments.). Participants later attended a reception at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, hosted by Cuban Ambassador to the United States Jose Cabanas. At the reception, World Trade Center of Greater Philadelphia President Linda Mysliwy Conlin had the opportunity to discuss a future trade mission from Greater Philadelphia with Deputy Chief of Mission Juan Leon, and World Trade Center Arkansas President and CEO Dan Hendrix. WTC Arkansas has completed one mission to Cuba, largely focused on agriculture, and is in the process of organizing a second mission. U.S. government trade with Cuba resources:
Eight companies from Pennsylvania exhibited along with a State of PA Trade Office booth and a Core PA Global investment booth in hall C2, Mining Forum. Exhibiting Pennsylvania companies included: Acker Drill (Scranton), American Cable (Philadelphia), The Fredericks Company (Philadelphia) - a World Trade Center of Greater Philadelphia Member, Curry Supply (Martinsburg), Cervis Inc (Warrendale), St. Mary's Carbon (St. Marys), J&J Truck Bodies & Trailers (Somerset), and Penn Machine Company (Johnstown). The Word Trade Center of Greater Philadelphia coordinated much of the pre-show preparations for The Fredericks Company and Pennsylvania’s Authorized Trade Representatives (ATR) offices in Central/Eastern Europe, China, Germany, Middle East Regional, Netherlands/Belgium and the United Kingdom set up meetings with prospective buyers from 19 different countries. In addition to regular trade show foot traffic, The Fredericks Company had more than 60 specific meetings with foreign prospects over the course of the show. As reported by SAP&DC: Statistics from the Pennsylvania pavilion companies' detail over 160 meetings were held with potential clients during the event, 129 qualified leads were obtained, 10 agreements are under consideration and estimated sales of $1M is expected from the show. "Things were well organized and planned out. Our location was great for traffic and was also very easy for companies we had meetings with to easily find us. I was very pleased with the results and also the accommodations from the state of PA. Well done by all!" - John Weigner, The Fredericks Company In addition to company results, PA staff of Dorte Heffernan, Northwest Pennsylvania Commission, Tina Taylor, SAP&DC, and Deb Phillips, NEPA conducted business for the Core PA Global booth, a 53 county investment initiative funded through a grant by the EDA to bring foreign direct investment to the rural regions of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Investment offices in Germany and France assisted with appointments with potential investment interests. As a result, 26 leads have been disbursed to various partner Economic Development agencies for potential matches with FDI to Pennsylvania.
A total of 3,423 exhibitors—1,263 from Germany and 2,160 from abroad—from 58 countries presented their products, developments and innovations on a record 605,000 square meters of exhibition space. Exhibitors from outside Germany accounted for 63 percent of the total—higher than ever before. Alexander Schwörer, Managing Director of Peri, agrees: “For us bauma 2016 was a tremendous success. We are very satisfied with the response and with the high quality of the trade visitors.” Also impressed was Frank W. Reschke, Sales Director and Member of the Management Board of Masa: “We are very happy with how the show went. Right from day one we were welcoming a constant stream of guests from all over the world at our booth. The quality of the trade audience is first rate, as it was three years ago, and we had some excellent business talks.” bauma full press release Bauma takes place every three years. The next bauma takes place from April 8 to 14, 2019 in Munich.
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