Help Wanted: Cuba's government turns to growing diaspora for investment

investing.com:

HAVANA (Reuters) — Cuba wants to tap its fast-growing overseas population for fresh investment to lift its sinking economy, a top foreign ministry official told Reuters this week, as the communist-run nation looks to overcome its worst downturn in decades.

Food, fuel and medicine shortages have pushed a record number of Cubans to leave their Caribbean island home in the past two years, sapping the nation of resources necessary to jump-start an economy already shackled by the pandemic and stiffened U.S. sanctions.

This migration wave includes many young people and «is having the greatest impact in history in terms of demographics, because of its composition,» said Ernesto Soberon, director of Consular Affairs for the Cuban Foreign Ministry.

Soberon told Reuters in a wide-ranging interview in Havana on Monday that the exodus represents a loss but also an opportunity as the government seeks to revive the ailing economy.

Cuban expats have already invested in bed-and-breakfasts, eateries and other activities on the island, but Cuba would like to see more capital flow, he said.

«Today Cubans abroad have no limits on how they can participate in the economic life of their country,» he said, referring to restrictions once placed upon them by the government.

Over 400 Cuban citizens living in more than 40 countries arrive on the island this week to discuss Cuba's evolving economy and other issues with the government — the first such conversations between Cuba and its ballooning diaspora in nearly two decades.

The conference is expected to attract Cubans living off island but with favorable views of their home country, including businesspeople, economists, and members of foreign resident associations.

The landscape has changed