By Jaime Hamre

HAVANA, Jan 4 (Reuters) – Virginia’s port authority will grow to be the primary U.S. port operator to signal a cooperation settlement with its Cuban counterpart, in an effort to extend commerce and set up direct service with Cuba, Virginia’s governor stated on Monday.

“We are going to sign an agreement tomorrow between the Port of Mariel and our Port of Virginia which will be a strategic alliance,” Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe stated throughout a three-day journey to the Communist-run island.

McAuliffe is the fourth U.S. governor to go to Cuba since each nations introduced they’d work to normalize relations simply over a 12 months in the past.

His 30-member delegation consists of numerous state officers and about twenty enterprise leaders.

The not too long ago opened Mariel Port, simply west of Havana, goals to grow to be a significant delivery middle as bigger ships cross by the Panama Canal and use it as a logistical hub.

“As Cuba and the United States normalize relationships, we’d like to see the Cuban companies establish Virginia as their distribution point for the United States,” Thomas Capozzi, chief gross sales officer for the Port of Virginia, advised Reuters.

According to the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, Norfolk, Virginia, ranked first – in metric tons – of 14 ports utilized in 2015 for exporting agricultural merchandise from the United States to Cuba.

President Barack Obama has relaxed components of the excellent commerce embargo of Cuba and has requested Congress to raise it utterly.

Virginia is Cuba’s third U.S. commerce associate. The state has exported practically $400 million in items to the island within the final decade, McAuliffe stated.

The United States approved cash-only agricultural exports to Cuba in 2000.

Virginia’s gross sales to Cuba, hampered by U.S. sanctions that bar Havana from credit score, dropped to $25 million in 2014, Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Todd Haymore advised Reuters, echoing a name by the governor to permit financial institution credit score for the meals commerce.

He stated the delegation, which incorporates representatives from pork producer Smithfield Foods and poultry producer Perdue Farms, hopes to extend and diversify Virginia’s exports to Cuba, which consist primarily of apples, wine and soy merchandise.

(Reporting by Jaime Hamre; Editing by Marc Frank and Dan Grebler)

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