Caterpillar ready to move into Cuban market once embargo lifted - CEO

Caterpillar ready to move into Cuban market once embargo lifted: CEO
HAVANA | BY SARAH MARSH

Caterpillar Inc, the world's largest maker of heavy equipment, is ready
to move swiftly into the Cuban market once the U.S. trade embargo is
lifted, Chief Executive Doug Oberhelman said on Wednesday after meeting
with Cuban ministers in Havana.

The detente between the United States and Cuba has raised hopes that
full commercial ties will soon be restored between the former Cold War foes.

Caterpillar (CAT.N), based in Peoria, Illinois, is one of several U.S.
companies looking at ways to gain an early foothold in the
Communist-ruled island, which had been largely off bounds to U.S.
business for more than five decades.

Oberhelman said he had been "warmly received" over the past two days by
various ministers on his first trip to Cuba.

"We have talked about a number of projects," he told reporters on the
sidelines of an event celebrating a donation by Caterpillar to the
foundation that preserves the heritage of U.S. writer Ernest Hemingway
in Cuba.

"I think the most interesting one in the near term would be the Mariel
harbor ... making an efficient modern harbor that competes with others
around the world."

Cuba is staking much of its economic future on the Mariel port, west of
Havana, seen as a potential distribution center for the Caribbean and
Central and South America.

Caterpillar has already named an official dealer for Cuba, the privately
held Puerto Rico company Rimco.

Rimco representative Caroline McConnie said the dealer was in talks with
U.S. authorities about getting a license allowing it to sell certain
Caterpillar products in Cuba despite the U.S. trade embargo.

President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro agreed in
December 2014 to end Cold War-era animosity and restore diplomatic
relations, but the trade embargo remains in place because only the
Republican-controlled U.S. Congress can lift it.

Asked when he expected the embargo to be lifted, Oberhelman said: "For
me, the answer is not soon enough."

Once it was lifted, Caterpillar could move quickly to sell products in
Cuba as it is used to dealing in emerging markets, he said, speaking on
the veranda of the farm just outside Havana where Hemingway lived for 21
years.

"The idea is for our dealer to set up a facility here in Cuba," he said.
"We would supply most of our products from Brazil."

(Editing by Leslie Adler)

Source: Caterpillar ready to move into Cuban market once embargo lifted:
CEO | Reuters -
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-caterpillar-idUSKCN0Y301Q