A United States trade embargo against Cuba is discouraging South African companies from doing business in that country, delegates attending the South Africa-Cuba joint bilateral commission heard on Friday.
Speaking at the closing of the two-day commission in Cape Town, which was seeking ways of increasing trade between the two countries, South Africa’s ambassador to Cuba, Thenjiwe Mtintso, said certain companies are concerned that doing business with the Cubans might put their American interests at risk.
”They do not want to jeopardise their relationship with America,” she said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said that while South Africa is cooperating well with Cuba in areas such as skills development and education, trade between the two countries is almost non-existent.
”We have identified this as a major challenge,” she said.
However, Dlamini-Zuma said, the two countries are working together to find ways of dealing with the difficulties created by the embargo.
”We have already put together a task team to look at this obstacle,” she said.
Imposed more than four decades ago, the US embargo against Cuba restricts American companies from doing business with the island state, making it difficult for the country to engage in international trade since many of its potential business partners have economic links with the US. — Sapa