The primary aim of this year’s Havana International Trade Fair is to attract foreign investment. All week, crowds flocked to special seminars outlining details of 250 specific projects. CCTV America’s Michael Voss reported this story from Havana.

As a block, the European Union is Cuba’s second largest trading partner in both imports and exports. EU officials came from Brussels to attend the fair but are playing down expectations of any immediate large scale investments.

“What we need are some test cases, both in Mariel and in the rest of the country to see how it goes, how the law will be applied in practice, how some of the legal issues will evolve, how the employment factor will evolve,” said Herman Portocarero, the EU ambassador to Cuba. “I think everybody is waiting to see a couple of sizable test cases and then to take it from there and learn from the experience. I think that’s true from the Cuban side as well.”

The fair also attracted large numbers of Cubans who came to look at all modern consumer goods in the hopes that one day they might appear in stores in Cuba.