A Moroccan family has been able to invest its money in Cuba, a country in the Caribbean. Approved by the Cuban government, the family will be producing cleaning products in the Mariel Special Development Zone, the first zone of its kind in the country. «My family and I decided to invest in this country (…) it was not an easy decision, but our persistence allowed us to get over the difficulties we encountered», Yassine Jabbar, who leads the project, told Cuban newspaper Periodico Cubano. Jabbar who lives between Morocco and Canada, where he owns a company, wanted to invest in poultry at first. However, negotiations with the Cuban authorities pushed him to drop the idea and go for cleaning products. «We spent several years on this project and we have managed it after a series of negotiations. It was difficult to deal with the bureaucracy of state companies in Cuba», he explained. Jabbar invested 12 million dollars in Cuba and expects his company to generate 30 million euros by the fourth year of its launching. According to the same source, the Moroccan family received a 25-year permit to operate in Cuba, which can be renewed later.
