News

Positive outlook emerges from Cuba trip

April 18, 2022

In an effort to reduce trade restrictions that could disrupt U.S. chicken exports to Cuba, three USAPEEC staff traveled to Havana last week for a series of meetings with Cuban officials including Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and a representative of the country’s veterinary office.

Dr. John Clifford, Ernesto Baron, and Jim Sumner went as part of the U.S-Cuba Agriculture Business Coalition for the purpose of gaining support for easing highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) restrictions that recently impacted North Carolina, a state with a considerable

amount of production destined for Cuba, and the largest shipping port for containerized shipments. Four key points were presented to the veterinary representative, Dr. Jorge Luis Milian Darias, Cuba’s former chief veterinary officer who was Cuba’s delegate to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) at the same time that Clifford served as the U.S. delegate to the OIE.

Read more in the April 18 edition of MondayLine.