MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil, Cuba Sign $200M in Business Deals.

The visit to Cuba by Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva not only carries great political significance but also a potential $200 million cash infusion into the debilitated local economy.

Lula arrived Havana City on Friday for his first official visit with approximately 70 business leaders who pledged to invest some $200 million in tourism, health, sugar, nickel, transportation and other industries, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said.

Brazilian business people and Cuban officials signed five agreements on Saturday in the course of a binational seminar on trade and investment led by Lula and Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

"A globalized world needs not only trade policies but also the ability to join our complementary aspects so as to compete on an equal footing with more economically developed and industrialized nations," Lula said at the beginning of the conference.

"I am very happy about this exchange and this important meeting with Brazilians, industrialists or not," Castro said.

"If we develop this trade, we all win. If you produce at a slightly lower cost than Europe, we'll already be ahead," said Castro, who has been at odds with the European Union over the human rights situation on the island.

Castro underscored Cuba's interest in doing business with a "giant in Latin America and the world" and called Brazil a symbol of hope "not only for Cuba, but for other peoples." "I foresee a good future for our relationship, now that a former lathe operator decides Brazil's destiny with great practical sense," Castro remarked.

Saturday's agreements and the dozen cooperation protocols signed on Friday are the fruit of months of intense negotiations, diplomatic sources said.

Brazilian businesses who wish to invest in Cuba will be eligible for financing from Brazil's state-owned development bank, BNDES.

Mario Vilalva, business development director at the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, said that some of the investment agreements are at an advanced phase, while others require further study.

One of the works in progress is a $114 million investment in the construction of four resort hotels with a combined total of 2,500 rooms.

In regard to oil, Vilalva said the possibility of Brazil's oil giant Petrobras drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, where Canada's Sherrit and Spain's Repsol have been operating, was not addressed.

"Petrobras has been in Cuba prospecting and the final decision is that at this time there is no concrete possibility of doing business with Cuba. But that does not mean opportunities will not be examined in the future," he said.

Lula, today Saturday met with a group of Brazilian students and, escorted by Castro, placed flowers at a monument to independence leader Jose Marti.