TEHRAN- During a visit to Iran's pavilion at the Havana International Fair (FIHAV 2025), the president of Cuba invited Iranian food industry brands to enter Cuban chain stores.

Miguel Díaz-Canel, the President of Cuba, visited various sections of the 41st Havana International Fair, being held during November 24-29 at EXPOCUBA Fairgrounds in Havana. Upon arriving at Iran's pavilion, he was welcomed by Samad Hassanzadeh, Head of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA); Ghadir Ghiyafeh, Vice President of the Iran Chamber; and Zabihollah Naderi, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Cuba. He reviewed the production, industrial, and export capabilities of the Iranian companies participating in the event.

During this visit, the Cuban president spoke with representatives of the Iranian companies and learned about the details of Iran's products, services, and industrial and export capacities.

He expressed hope that this exhibition and the holding of trade conferences would pave the way for enhancing mutual cooperation, developing economic relations, and identifying new opportunities for bilateral trade between Iran and Cuba.

Miguel Díaz-Canel also emphasized that the Cuban government supports the expansion of economic exchanges and joint investments between the two countries.

Iran's pavilion was set up with the participation of companies active in the fields of petrochemicals, food industries, industrial equipment, clothing, commercial services, and the country's economic institutions.

The visit by the Cuban President indicates the special attention of his government to the potential for cooperation with Iran in various fields.

While visiting the booth of an Iranian pump manufacturing company, the Cuban president emphasized to his companions that arrangements should be made for the company's officials to meet with the Cuban Institute of Water Resources and the Minister of Foreign Trade in order to utilize its technical capacities.

Furthermore, during his visit to the booths of Iranian food production companies, Miguel Díaz-Canel invited them to conduct visits to Cuban chain stores and plan for supplying their products in these stores. He also suggested, in talks with Iranian shoe manufacturers, that they enter into negotiations with Cuban companies to identify methods of mutual cooperation.

Samad Hassanzadeh, Head of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, who accompanied the Cuban president during his visit to Iran's pavilion at the Havana International Fair, praised Cuba's cooperation in providing vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic and stated: "At the Iran Chamber of Commerce, we are trying to create a more precise understanding of the Cuban market for Iranian private sector economic actors, to pave the way for expanding the presence of Iranian products in Cuba."

Hassanzadeh cited the lack of precise familiarity among businessmen with the needs and regulations of the destination country as a major obstacle to increasing trade exchanges.

He emphasized to the Cuban president that necessary measures should be considered for sharing information and creating grounds for traders of the two countries to become more familiar with each other's capacities and needs.

Hassanzadeh named areas such as pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, tourism, cross-border farming, and industry and mining as attractive fields for expanding Iran-Cuba economic cooperation.

Ghadir Ghiyafeh, Vice President of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, also referring to the activities and capacities of the two countries in the field of mining and mineral industries, expressed hope that by focusing on the mining sector, the volume of Iran-Cuba trade exchanges would increase to one billion dollars annually within a five-year horizon.

Although trade between Iran and Cuba has been steadily increasing in recent years, it is not commensurate with the expectations and potential capacities of the two countries. In 2023, the value of Iran-Cuba bilateral trade was estimated at $218 million. While this figure indicates significant growth compared to previous years, it is possible to increase it to a much higher level.

Iran's main exports to Cuba include petroleum products, petrochemical products, construction materials, and food items such as rice, wheat, chicken meat, and oil seeds. Iran's main imports from Cuba include pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, and technical and engineering services.

Back in March, the head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) met with Cuba’s ambassador to discuss expanding trade ties, emphasizing the need to update the preferential trade agreement’s product list and accelerate barter trade agreements between the two countries.

According to TPO’s public relations office, Mohammadali Dehghan Dehnavi met with Jorge Fernando Nicolás to review trade cooperation. “We have taken positive steps in our collaboration, but given the high-level political relations between Iran and Cuba, our trade volume must see a significant increase,” Dehnavi stated.

The deputy minister of industry, mining, and trade stressed the need to expand economic cooperation, highlighting potential areas such as modernizing and investing in Cuba’s sugar industry, food production and distribution chains, energy, technical and engineering services, power plant construction and maintenance, water and electricity industries, tourism, mining, and transportation.

Dehnavi noted that Iran has developed aircraft maintenance expertise despite sanctions. “No country has faced as many sanctions as Iran. While the costs have been high, we have found ways to overcome these challenges,” he said.

Ambassador Nicolás praised Iran’s progress despite sanctions and expressed Cuba’s commitment to maintaining trade with its allies. He emphasized Cuba’s interest in continuing trade delegations and collaborating in power generation, transportation, water and electricity industries, food production, rail and air transport, and adopting Iranian technologies in these sectors.

The Cuban envoy also highlighted the membership of both Iran and Cuba in BRICS as an opportunity to expand bilateral trade interactions.

MA