***** Pride II set to sail to Cuba on trade visit Island seen as customer for Maryland businesses
Associated Press Originally published April 24, 2003
Hoping to tap into a potential billion-dollar trade market, Maryland is sending the Pride of Baltimore II to Cuba to promote the state's agriculture and food businesses.
The trip -- which follows recent crackdowns by Fidel Castro against dissidents and increased tension between the United States and Cuba -- could generate millions of dollars in trade for Maryland businesses, officials say.
A replica of a sleek 1812-era topsail schooner, the Pride is scheduled to leave Baltimore tomorrow and arrive in Havana on May 24.
The 100-foot-long ship will take Cuban government and trade officials on sailing junkets, displaying samples of seafood, poultry, pet food, cake mix, juices and spices from Maryland companies interested in cracking the Cuban market.
"It's important that the United States, regardless of Castro's political actions, do things that make good economic sense," said Brian Alexander, executive director of the Cuba Policy Foundation, which opposes the U.S. embargo on trade with Cuba. "Expanding trade to Cuba benefits the U.S. worker and takes money out of Castro's pocket and puts it into the American economy."
U.S. businesses sold at least $138 million worth of farm products to Cuba last year, Alexander said, adding that America's economy loses up to $1.2 billion annually in agricultural exports because of the embargo.
Talib Rashada, president of W.C. Dunn, a Maryland import-export company, said he sold more than $600,000 in spices to the Cuban government last year. He said he hopes to sell between $3 million to $4 million in spices and other commodities as a result of the May trip.
"We have extremely high hopes for this trip," Rashada said. "We think Cuba is going to be a remarkable market."
In recent years, businesses have taken advantage of a federal law that relaxes the embargo, to permit exports of some medicines, foods and agricultural products. In September, more than 200 businesses from 32 states, including Maryland, displayed their wares at a Havana food show....
<http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-md.pride24apr24,0,7413577.story?coll=bal-local-headlines> ***** -- Yoshie
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