Commercial entities of Cuba and Panama signed a collaboration agreement to enhance the exchange between both countries. The agreement, signed between ProCuba and ProPanamá in the Central American country, would allow benefits in sectors such as biotechnology, agriculture and tourism, Prensa Latina (PL) news agency reported.

These institutions are devoted to the promotion and boosting of businesses, investments and trade in goods and services. They also monitor opportunities in international markets and offer specialized services to companies in their respective countries.

The document was signed by Carmen Gisela Vergara, director of the ProPanamá Agency for the Attraction of Investments and Promotion of Exports, and Roberto Verrier, director of the ProCuba Center for the Promotion of Foreign Trade and Investment.

As part of the framework of this agreement, both nations could expand their economic relations due to the opening of the Cuban market to foreign investments, and to the Panamanian companies’ attractive offers for the island’s market, which have a high demand for Cuban private merchants, which import all kinds of products from Panama.

The joint projects in the field of tourism promotion would be another useful exchange in both directions, according to expert opinions.

On the other hand, Cuba offers among its potentials the export of health services, in addition to products from its biotechnology industry, Prensa Latina said.

The agency explains that Panama needs to find a market for its agricultural productions, and at the same time introduce the results of the Cuban centers’ research on this sector, which would represent important contributions to the development of these branches, which the current government is promoting.

In October 2018, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel received his then Panamanian counterpart, Juan Carlos Varela, in Havana to discuss bilateral issues with special emphasis on the possibilities of increasing trade and investment.

An economic complementation agreement signed between the two countries in 2014 “represents the instrument that laid the foundations of regulations for trade and preferential access of products” to their markets, PL said.