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Yahoo! AP. Wed Jul 17, 1:58 PM ET
HAVANA - Faced with growing complaints from foreign investors about the
difficulties of doing business on this communist island, government officials
say they are working to unravel Cuba's complicated bureaucracy.
We are waging a battle to cut time periods" in negotiating with foreign
investors and responding to requests to establish businesses here, said Ernesto
Senti, vice minister for Foreign Investment.
Speaking Tuesday afternoon during a business forum at a trade show of firms
involved in heavy industry, Senti said the average negotiation between the
government and a prospective foreign investor currently takes almost a year.
"If the government approves a business, it should starts functioning as
soon as possible," he said.
Cuba's foreign investment priorities are tourism, energy and biotechnology,
Senti said.
There are 412 "mixed enterprises" in Cuba, operated with foreign
capital and Cuban government involvement. Spain accounts for the largest amount
of foreign investment in Cuba, followed by Canada, Italy, France, Mexico and
Great Britain, said Senti. China and Germany also have been increasing
involvement in Cuba, he said.
Investors from the European Union ( news - web sites) — whose countries
account for about half of Cuba's foreign investment — last month gave
government authorities a document asking for increased security and lower prices
in doing business. They also complained about recurrent bureaucratic headaches.
After the financial crisis caused by the former Soviet Union's collapse,
Cuba in the 1990s adopted modest economic reforms that included an opening to
foreign investment in industries such as tourism and construction.
Still, foreign firms here complain regularly about delays in payments and
myriad rules and regulations, including one that requires them to hire their
Cuban workers through government employment agencies.
While Senti said authorities will work to make things easier for foreign
investors, he was clear that no major changes in the existing economic system
are planned.
"The foreign investment process complements our country's development,"
said Senti. "But Cuba is not liberalizing investment, nor is it privatizing
the country. Those are precepts of our law and of our politics." | 
