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WASHINGTON - PR Newswire - More than thirty
companies, state agencies, and organizations from 19 states announced the
official formation of the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association (USCTA). Charter members
of the newly formed association include ADM, Caterpillar, Cargill, National
Foreign Trade Council, USA*Engage, USA Rice Federation, North Dakota Farm
Bureau, Port of Galveston, Louisiana Department of Economic Development,
AgBioTech, Buffalo Int'l., Arthur Savage & Sons,
Port Manatee Commercial Center, Virginia Department of Agriculture, U.S. Wheat
Associates, and other companies. The mission of the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association
is to protect current trade with Cuba, expand and increase the potential for
future business, and promote the full normalization of commercial relations
between the U.S. and Cuba. The Association was formed shortly after the Office
of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of Treasury ruled that
U.S. firms receive money in advance from Cuba before shipping. This action has
already disrupted and directly hurt the smooth trade which in three years
produced over $1.2 billion in sales by American firms.
The Association has pledged support for S. 328, the Agricultural Export
Facilitation Act of 2005, sponsored by U.S. Senators Larry Craig (R-ID), Max
Baucus (D-MT.), and 28 other cosponsor and the same bill in the House HR. 719 by
Jerry Moran (R-Ks) which would open more trade with Cuba. The new association
also voiced support for bills expected to be introduced on April 27 by U.S.
Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Baucus in the Senate and U.S. Reps. Jeff Flake
(R-AZ) and William Delahunt (D-MA) to open up travel to Cuba. The Board of
Directors of the new group is headed by Bill Reinsch,
former Under Secretary of Commerce and current President of the National Foreign
Trade Council (NFTC). The new Association has formed a strategic partnership
with the NFTC and its USA*Engage Coalition of more than 600 U.S. companies which
have opposed the use of unilateral economic sanctions, including the Cuba
embargo. "Cuba is the poster child for ineffective sanctions and the embargo
ought to be removed," said USCTA Board Chairman, Reinsch,
"and the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association will help its member companies do business
in Cuba and learn about the future potential." The Association's Board of
Advisors, chaired by William D. Rogers, former Assistant Secretary of State and
a Vice Chairman of Kissinger Associates, includes David Rockefeller; Carla
Hills, former U.S. Trade representative; Frank Carlucci, former Secretary of
Defense; James Schlesinger, former Director of CIA and Secretary of Defense; A.W.
Clausen, former CEO of Bank America and President of the World Bank; Silvia
Wilhelm, of the Miami-based Cuban American Commission for Family Rights; Dr.
Julius Richmond, a former U.S. Surgeon General and current head of Harvard's
School of Public Health; and 20 other prominent Americans who reflect the broad
national support among different sectors for normalized trade with Cuba.
In joining the USCTA Board of advisors, Frank
Carlucci, said, "I support the formation of the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association
because I believe that normalizing commercial relations with
Cuba is in our own national interest and would likely bring better results than
the 45-year-old unilateral embargo." Advisory Board Chair William
Rogers, added that "We have seen the positive results
of engagement with China, Vietnam. It is essential that the U.S. take the lead
now in expanding relations with our strategically important neighbor, Cuba. This
Association is an important step toward building more robust private sector
commercial ties with the Cubans -- a vital precondition to a more normal
relationship between our country and theirs." According to its web site (http://www.uscuba.org)
the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association will establish a national data base of companies
interested in trade with Cuba, set up an email alert system to mobilize support
for Congressional initiatives, provide members with a monthly newsletter, and
organize seminars and conferences to educate the U.S. business community about
doing business with Cuba.
As one of its first activities, the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association is hosting a
meeting on Wednesday, April 27 for companies, agricultural associations, and
representatives of organizations to hear directly from Pedro Alvarez, Chairman
of Alimport, the Cuban
entity which signs all contracts with U.S. firms. Via two-way teleconference,
Alvarez will speak to the group from his office in Havana and answer questions.
The U.S.-Cuba Trade Association is a non profit 501(c) (6) corporation with
offices in Washington, D.C.
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