Virginia didn’t wait to have a relationship with Cuba
Source: Washington Post
Virginia didn’t wait to have a relationship with Cuba
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José R. Cabañas, Cuba’s top diplomat in the United States, was in Richmond at the invitation of Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who hopes to expand trade ties as U.S. relations with Cuba are normalized. (Timothy C. Wright/For the Washington Post)
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By Laura Vozzella January 8 at 8:28 PM
RICHMOND — Cuba’s top diplomat in the United States traveled to Virginia’s capital this week amid new hope that sweeping changes in U.S.-Cuba policy will bring major business opportunities to the commonwealth if trade opens up with the island nation.
José R. Cabañas, chief of the Cuban Interests Section, talked trade with Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe; toured the state Capitol, designed by Thomas Jefferson; and spoke with business and educational groups seeking closer ties to the island nation.
The meeting was scheduled before President Obama announced plans last month to fund new diplomatic operations with Cuba and ease restrictions on commerce and banking. But state leaders said the potential for a new era of detente only strengthens Virginia’s competitive advantage.
“How fast it will go, I don’t know. How soon we have results, I don’t know,” Cabañas said over lunch this week with Virginia’s secretary of agriculture and forestry, Todd Haymore, who has led eight official trade missions to Havana. But he told Haymore, “You have been pioneering the effort on behalf of your authorities and your people in Virginia, and that has to pay off.”
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/virginia-didnt-wait-to-have-a-relationship-with-cuba/2015/01/08/4ae9d7a0-96a4-11e4-927a-4fa2638cd1b0_story.html
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