"I was here to re-establish the long-standing close relationships with the government entities charged with rice imports that we've developed over the years, and to take the pulse of trade in general," Lehrer said.  "There have been many personnel changes throughout the Cuban government, especially at ALIMPORT, and we wanted to exchange ideas with these new people, jump start a close relationship."

Lehrer also wanted to check in with people here to learn what they really think about the changing dynamic between the United States and Cuba.

"We certainly achieved our goals and established a warm dialogue with new people," he said.  "It will form an excellent foundation moving forward."

"We thank USA Rice for their visit," said Aniurka Ortiz Marquetti, General Vice President of ALIMPORT and in charge of U.S. purchases.  "We are well aware of their long history in working to open trade both here in Havana and in the U.S., and we know we can count on their guidance, support, and under new conditions, sales in the future.  We have had a lot of turnover the past couple of years at ALIMPORT, and re-establishing contact face-to-face is very important."

"Cuban rice imports are not as large as a few years ago as they report that local production has increased as a result of technical assistance from Cuba's Asian trading partners, but milled rice imports are still quite significant," Lehrer explained.  "Cubans know about our quality, and logistic advantage, but our ability to break into the market once again will depend upon significant changes to the embargo.  We need genuine two-way trade and some type of credit needs to be extended to the Cuban government."

Cuba currently receives credit from main rice supplier Vietnam, as well as credit terms from Spain, Brazil, and some others.

"My sense is that they want U.S. rice, but we cannot be competitive due to restrictive terms imposed by the embargo," said Lehrer.

Lehrer also met with several foreign press contacts and the U.S. Interests Section in Havana in order to get a better feel for their views on progress towards normalization with the U.S., as well as a sense of any changes in Cuba which might affect future sales of U.S. rice.

Contact:  Michael Klein (703) 236-1458