Yesterday, the U.S. Departments of State and Energy co-chaired the first U.S.-Cuba Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Working Group in Washington, D.C. Participants discussed regional developments related to clean energy, including renewable energy and energy efficiency, and exchanged ideas and information on how the United States and Cuba can move forward on this shared interest. … Read more
Google and Cuba agree to cooperate to improve Internet performance on the island. Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., signed the deal with Mayra Arevich Marin, president of state telecommunications monopoly ETECSA. It grants Cubans speedy access to the Google Global Cache network, which stores content from sites such as Gmail and … Read more
The New York Times reported yesterday that, for a variety of reasons, tourists are straining the food system and reducing food available for Cubans. There are a variety of factors contributing to Cuba’s food shortage dilemma, but the following explains one of the major factors. The U.S. Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (TSRA) … Read more
Norwegian Cruise Line today announced that it has received approval from the government of the Republic of Cuba to operate cruises to Cuba, beginning March 2017. Frank Del Rio, the company’s CEO, visited Cuba last year for the first time in 54 years. He is the only one of the major cruise company CEOs born … Read more
Today, four Cuban private business owners will join U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) and a bipartisan group of other congressional leaders in a news conference on Capitol Hill to discuss how U.S. regulatory changes to Cuba sanctions are … Read more
President-elect Trump has recently stated his dissatisfaction with the detente between the U.S. and Cuba. His campaign focused on the plight of U.S. middle-class workers unemployed due to a supposed exodus of companies seeking lower labor costs outside the U.S. In an apparent contradiction to his convictions, the U.S Labor Department recently awarded Trump approval … Read more
Twenty years ago, communist countries began their shift towards capitalism. What do we know now that we didn’t know then that is relevant for Cuba? Harvard’s Andrei Shleifer, the Russian-born, American-trained economist, provides his answers via VoxEU.org in a article from 2012. by Andrei Shleifer Recently, I was asked by the organisers of the IIASA … Read more
According to reports, the White House has stepped up efforts to secure deals for U.S. companies seeking to get established in Cuba. What’s at stake is a potential reversal of President Obama’s detente with Cuba in the wake of threats by President-elect Trump to reverse the policy of engagement with the island nation. General Electric, … Read more
Aviation is a global enterprise that brings the world together. U.S. civil aviation has a $2.4 trillion dollar impact on the global economy, and accounts for more than 58 million jobs. Growth in travel, new routes, increasing trade and investment, and new technological endeavors underscore the importance of international cooperation. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration … Read more
In the first six months of 2016, revenues from tourism in Cuba rose 15% compared with the same period last year, according to Cuban government data. The number of visitors from the U.S. soared around 80%, though from a low base. The total number of visitors to Cuba was up 11.8%. Cuba’s National Statistics Office … Read more
