Investment Commitments: Investment Flows

investment commitments: In the past two years, new foreign ventures have been approved with investment commitments of more than 4.5 billion US dollars, and so far in 2019, partnerships have amounted to more than 1.3 billion dollars, Malmierca said, according to Global Times China. In recent weeks, the White House has stepped up sanctions against Cuba, barring cruise ships and recreational vessels from visiting Cuban ports, and restricting travel to the island, which has dealt a blow to the tourism industry. In his opening speech at the Cuba Business Forum, jointly sponsored by the Cuban government, the European Union and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Malmierca noted investment flows remained vigorous, stressing the importance of foreign investment to modernizing the island's socialist model. In May, the US State Department enacted Title III of the Helms-Burton Act allowing US lawsuits against foreign companies operating in Cuba with assets nationalized or expropriated following the 1959 Revolution, a move that could affect numerous European firms doing business in Cuba. Malmierca reaffirmed Havana's willingness to grant legal guarantees and protections to businesses and foreign investors in Cuba. They intend to suffocate the economy and damage Cubans' standard of living to force political concessions that we will never accept, he said. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.