HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Two legislators from the US state of Iowa are planning to visit Cuba this week, leading a delegation interested in fostering bilateral links for future trade exchange.
According to local media in Iowa, Sen. Steve Sodders, D-Marshalltown, and Rep. Kirsten Running-Marquardt, D-Cedar Rapids, said they will be meeting with representatives from the Cuban government and business leaders to focus on fostering new business opportunities between Iowa and Cuba.
The Iowa mission will include representatives of economic development, tourism, and trade interests. The timing will allow the two state legislators to be back in Iowa in time for the January 11 start of the Iowa General Assembly's 2016 session, local media said.
According to Sodders, the visit to Cuba is part of ongoing efforts to improve relationships with an emerging new market and that expanding trade with the island can bring benefits to the people of both countries.
Sodders and Running-Marquardt will be joined by Carlos Portes, a former ambassador for Latin America. Portes, who came to the US at the age of nine and was raised by a Marshalltown family, was later appointed special ambassador for Latin American affairs by President Jimmy Carter.
During a session of Iowa’s General Assembly, Sodders introduced a resolution approved by the Iowa Senate that promoted efforts to develop support for an enhanced trade relationship between Iowa and Cuba, according to local state media.Meanwhile, in the presence of Virginia’s governor Terry McAuliffe, who is currently visiting Cuba, the University of Havana and Virginia Commonwealth University signed a framework accord to promote bilateral academic collaboration agreement.
The accord, signed at the University of Havana on Monday, aims at the exchange of documents, publications and other information materials as well as joint implementation of summer courses and semester programs for regular Virginia students at the University of Havana, and it also includes reciprocal visits by professors, researchers and postgraduate students.
During the meeting, University of Havana rector Gustavo Cobreiro outlined to the Virginia governor the history of the centre and its programmes of exchange with 450 universities from around the world, including 45 US higher education centres.
Iowa legislators to lead trade mission to Cuba
