Havana -  The 14th International Congress on Sugar Cane and its Derivatives - entitled Diversification 2017 - opened in Havana yesterday, June 26, with the attendance of José Ramón Machado, second secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and a vice president of the Councils of State and Ministers.

Machado Ventura attended the meeting, which will continue through Friday at the Pabexpo fairgrounds, accompanied by leaders of the Cuban state sugar enterprise group, Azcuba, and José Oribe Vides, executive director of the International Sugar Organization (ISO).

In a statement to the Cuban News Agency (ACN), Oribe commented that it is imperative for the industry to make more efficient use of sugar derivatives, referring to alcohols, beverages, and animal feed, among other products.

The ISO director made the Congress' first presentation, while Noel Casañas Lugo, Azcuba vice president, offered a special report on developing diversification of the Cuban sugar industry.

With more than 700 delegates from 25 countries on hand, engineer Arodis Caballero Núñez, head of the organizing committee, denounced the damage caused by the U.S. economic, commercial, and financial blockade of Cuba.

Topics to be discussed include the latest industry technology; industrial efficiency; the generation of energy from biomass; alcohols and beverages; animal feed, and cane cultivation, in addition to quality management; environmental protection; value chains; and biological pest control.

The event includes a commercial fair and a business forum addressing foreign investment, exports of goods, services, equipment and technology.