Palm Beach County trade delegation to head to Cuba
By Doreen Hemlock
Havana Bureau
Posted December 21 20
HAVANA · The World Trade Center-Palm Beach plans a humanitarian, educational and information exchange mission to Cuba in June, the international business group announced Wednesday.
"We hope to exchange information about several key resources found in Palm Beach County: agriculture, ranching and food processing; water purification, irrigation and related technologies; transportation; and medicine and life sciences," Lou Haddad, president of the group, said in a statement.
Haddad said the group is working with its counterpart in Cuba, the World Trade Center-Havana, to organize the visit. About 30 professionals from South Florida are expected to make the trip, pending government approvals.
"There once existed a pre-Castro relationship between the Port of Palm Beach and Cuba," Haddad said.
"We believe that Palm Beach County can re-establish former ties and assist the island to develop its economy."
The delegation does not plan to meet with any Cuban government agencies or officials, "just everyday people like us exchanging information and getting to know each other's cultures better," he said.
Plans for the visit come at a time when Fidel Castro is ailing and has ceded power temporarily to his brother and longtime defense minister, Raul Castro.
Many analysts expect Raul Castro to open the economy more to international business, much as communist-led China has done.
The Port of Palm Beach, known as a gateway to the Caribbean, could gain from closer U.S.-Cuba ties.
"Those of us engaged in maritime commerce look forward to the day when normalized trade relations with Cuba can resume," Lori A. Baer, executive director of the Port of Palm Beach, said in announcing the trip.
Brent Schillinger, a board member of the Palm Beach trade group and a past president of the Palm Beach County Medical Society, said he hopes the trip can forge a dialogue with medical counterparts in Cuba.
The Palm Beach Film and Television Institute plans to co-sponsor the Cuba mission and produce a documentary on the visit, Haddad said.
Doreen Hemlock can be reached at dhemlock@sun-sentinel.com.
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