France expands trade credit program

France expands trade credit program

CUBA STANDARD — Continuing French efforts to revive trade and investment
ties with Cuba, the two governments amended on May 6 in Havana a
short-term credit line agreement backed by French export guarantee
agency Coface.

The new credit line extends a previous one through November 2015.
Guaranteeing Cuban purchases of up to euro 90 million ($125 million) a
year, the credit aims to benefit particularly French food and
agricultural commodity exporters, a French foreign affairs ministry
press release said.

French agricultural and food sales to Cuba plummeted more than a decade
ago, after Coface canceled a $175 million credit line following a Cuban
default in 2002, and due to rising competition from U.S. exporters.

The agreement was signed by Fleur Pellerin, Secretary of State for
Foreign Trade and Investment, Tourism Promotion and French Nationals
Abroad, and Foreign Trade and Investment Minister Rodrigo Malmierca.

At the signing ceremony, Pellerin announced that a French business
delegation focusing on export opportunities will travel to Cuba "soon."

Pellerin said she encourages French businesses to invest in the Mariel
Special Development Zone (ZEDM) going up west of Havana, and that France
is interested in a fast development of its presence in the ZEDM.

Pellerin also heads the French delegation at the FITCuba tourism fair in
Havana this week; France is the fair's guest of honor this year.

"A lot of cooperation is possible in this sphere," she said at the fair,
according to Cuban media. "We can contribute in terms of training, hotel
and catering business, gastronomy and management."

Finally, according to a French foreign ministry press release, she is
paying "particular attention" to Cuba's health sector.

Pellerin's visit came three weeks after that of French Foreign Affairs
Minister Laurent Fabius, and while European Union and Cuban diplomats
are negotiating full resumption of ties.

Meanwhile, flag carriers Cubana de Aviación and Air France on May 7
signed a memorandum of understanding. The cooperation document, signed
by Cubana Deputy Director Ana Margarita Godoy and Zoran Jelkic, vice
president of Air France, sets the bases for an expansion of Air France
routes beyond Havana, to Santiago, Santa Clara and Holguín. The two
airlines may also work together offering flights to other destinations
in the Caribbean.

French business interest in Cuba has been rising lately. In 2012,
executives of 17 French corporations spent three days in Havana, to
listen to Cuban investment proposals. The delegation, according to the
Mouvement des Entreprises de France (Medef), included companies in
telecommunications, energy, rail transport, logistics, agribusiness,
enterprise services, infrastructure engineering and construction, oil
equipment, industrial engineering, insurance and finance, hotels and
tourism, electric installations, water and environment, and air catering.

In October 2013, Groupe Belvédère agreed to distribute a Cuban-made rum,
and in February, a French startup company agreed to test and distribute
a Cuban-made hepatitis vaccine.

The absence of Coface credit aside, U.S. embargo politics continue to be
a major insecurity factor for French exporters and investors. Three of
France's largest banks have been under pressure from the United States
lately. According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. government is
investigating BNP Paribas, Société Générale and Crédit Agricole over
transactions with Iran and Cuba.

Source: "France expands trade credit program « Cuba Standard, your best
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http://www.cubastandard.com/2014/05/08/france-expands-trade-credit-program/