Cuba trade with China fell 31 pct to $1.5B in '09
June 2, 2010 China's ambassador to Cuba, Chen Feng, told Havana's state-run
weekly magazine Opciones that his country's economic ties to Cuba
were down 31.5 percent compared to the previous year.
But in the remarks published Monday, he also announced plans to
collaborate with Cuba on a new luxury hotel on Havana's western
outskirts that will cost about $117 million and be built later this
year.
It was not clear if the 2009 trade figure included $78 million
in credits, donations and hurricane relief Chinese President Hu
Jintao promised during a November 2008 visit to the island.
The drop in 2009 was consistent with sharp tumbles in Cuban
imports from other major trading partners such as Venezuela and
Spain, as well as food and farm products it is allowed to receive
from the United States despite Washington's 48-year-old trade
embargo.
Cuba's economy is struggling to overcome a triple-whammy of bad
news: Three major hurricanes did more than $10 billion in damage in
2008, the global economic crisis dampened tourism and a drop in
commodities prices hurt nickel sales for much of 2009.
China is Cuba's second-largest trading partner behind Venezuela,
where socialist President Hugo Chavez helps keep the Cuban economy
afloat by providing more than 100,000 barrels of oil per day in
exchange for island doctors, who provide free medical care in his
country, and other social services.
The economic ties to Beijing have brought many tangible benefits
to Cuba, including about 4,000 new Yutong buses that have replaced
smoke-belching, Soviet-era buses.
Chen said Cuba will continue importing Chinese goods, primarily
for its electrical industry, as well as communications,
transportation and agriculture.
Last year, Cuba's government was an investor in the construction
of the new 868-room Gran Melia Shanghai in that Chinese city.
The money for the new 650-room resort at the Hemingway Marina on
Havana's outskirts will be financed 49 percent by Cuba's government
and 51 percent by China, the ambassador said.