23-05-08 Cuba has expressed its interest in sourcing Tata Motors’ Rs 1-lakh wonder car Nano from India.
Visiting Cuban deputy minister of foreign trade Eduardo Escandell Amador said he would meet officials from Tata Motors in Mumbai to discuss possible sourcing of cars, trucks and buses from the company. The country is also seeking to increase cooperation with India in the oil and gas sector.

Speaking at an interaction between Indian and Cuban business organised by the PHD chamber of commerce and industry, Mr Amador said he will meet officials from Tata Motors and the Essar Group in Mumbai to explore business opportunities.
According to Cuban ambassador to India Miguel Angel Ramirez Ramos, Indian cars like the Nano and Maruti have a potential market in Cuba. The Caribbean nation is also interested in sourcing more trucks and cars from India. Mr Amador pointed out that the oil and gas sector in Cuba was poised to grow phenomenally in the coming years.

Some 34 mm tons of petroleum products are mined every year.
“There is a very high potential for further growth of the oil and gas sector but that requires heavy investments from countries like India,” he added. The minister said that public sector ONGC had already started drilling in the country but there was scope for higher investment.

India-Cuba trade during the 1980s was over $ 300 mm but fell to $ 50 mm in subsequent years due to Cuba’s economic crisis in the nineties and unavailability of a line of credit from New Delhi to Havana. Cuba now plans to work at increasing its trade with India to $ 300 mm over the next three years.
“In 2006-07, our bilateral trade was $ 27 mm and we expect to it increase to $ 300 mm in the next three years,” Mr Ramos said.