Reaching Out: Cuba’s New Economy and the International Response

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a resilient Cuba has dramatically diversified its international economic relations with states like Spain and Canada and now with emerging market powers like China, Brazil, and Venezuela. Despite increasing ties to the international community, Cuba remains absent from the core international financial institutions such as the IMF and World Bank.

On November 18, the Latin America Initiative at Brookings hosted the release of a new study by Brookings Nonresident Senior Fellow Richard Feinberg titled, “Reaching Out: Cuba’s New Economy and the International Response.” The report explores recent Cuban economic reforms and offers recommendations for how the international development community, including the United States, should respond. Following his remarks, Carlos Alzugaray Treto, professor of international affairs at the University of Havana, and Gary Hufbauer, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, provided commentary. Senior Fellow Ted Piccone, deputy director of Foreign Policy at Brookings, provided introductory remarks and moderated the discussion.

After the program, panelists took audience questions.