The largest import-export entity in terms of activity and number of employees of the Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Industries Group (BioCubaFarma) is also working to become an authorized economic operator and set up a customs agency.

According to a balance of the activities carried out during 2021, it is still necessary to improve the import management, whose numbers were 81 percent of what was planned at the end of last year. Although financial restrictions, the limitations imposed by the U.S. blockade against the island and different problems in the international transportation of cargo were harmful, this area can still be improved regarding the compliances of contracts.

Likewise, said the director of Farmacuba, MSc. Adis Nuvia Neyra, it is necessary to advance in the technology updating of the process and in the training of foreign trade specialists.

Exports of services and products exceeded forecasts and, in the case of the latter, closed at 324 percent of the programmed figure, thanks to sales to third markets, including the nationally manufactured anti-Covid-19 vaccines sold to Nicaragua.

Notwithstanding the excellent figures, in Neyra’s opinion, during this period the company’s great milestone is to have been able to count on a staff capable of developing a creative resistance to Washington’s punitive policy, and to the losses of manufacturers and regular suppliers for the pharmaceutical industry.

According to her, one of the greatest challenges for the company is to obtain the raw materials essential for the production of Cuba’s basic medicines, even though conditions are still unfavorable.

In pursuit of this endeavor, they are working to establish alliances with other entities and to transform the methods so far applied in the search for customer satisfaction.

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