U.S. reopens embassy in Cuba

Business groups are applauding the opening of diplomatic relations, hoping it will lead to commercial opportunities in a new market.    A flag-raising ceremony on Friday officially marked the reopening of the U.S. embassy in Havana after 54 years and another step towards fuller commercial ties between the United States and Cuba.
   Nine months ago President Obama announced plans to restore diplomatic relations with the island nation and loosen some trade and travel restrictions. Diplomatic ties were reestablished three weeks ago after Cuba was removed from the State Department’s list of sponsors of state terrorism.
   In a speech, Secretary of State John Kerry said removing a vestige of the Cold War is a necessary step to improve relations, but acknowledged economic progress and any transition to democracy in Cuba will be gradual.
   “It doesn’t take a GPS to realize that the road of mutual isolation and estrangement that the United States and Cuba were traveling was not the right one and that the time has come for us to move in a more promising direction,” he said, according to a transcript of his remarks. 
   The secretary visited Vietnam two weeks ago and said to mark the 20th anniversary of normalized relations between the two countries that fought a bloody war against each other. Vietnam has grown into one of the world’s fastest growing economies, while Cuban-American relations remained stuck in the past, he noted.
   According to the State Department, visits from the United States to Cuba have increased 35 percent in 2015.
   Major business and agriculture coalitions are eager to do business in Cuba and seek the removal of trade restrictions, including the U.S. embargo that prevents the sale of most non-humanitarian goods to Cuba. Many are exploring commercial ventures in Cuba.
   Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, for example, is scheduled to lead a trade delegation to Cuba later this summer.
   Food and telecommunications are sectors expected to benefit most in the near term from the opening. But full trade relations will require Congress to lift the embargo, which is a politically charged issue. 
   Obama has taken steps to ease restrictions on remittances, on exports and imports to help Cuban private entrepreneurs, on telecommunications and family travel.
   “Just as we are doing our part, we urge the Cuban government to make it less difficult for their citizens to start businesses, to engage in trade, access information online. The embargo has always been something of a two-way street – both sides need to remove restrictions that have been holding Cubans back,” Kerry said.