Cuba is working on the dredging and technological modernization of its three major ports in collaboration with China and Venezuela to meet the challenge that the enlargement of the Panama Canal will bring, official media said.

The works seek to increase depth to allow the operation of larger vessels in the ports of Havana, Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba, through which more than 80 percent of the island’s imports enter the country, the director of the Havana port authority, Miguel Izquierdo, told the weekly Opciones.

The official said that financing will be provided by an accord approved recently between China and Cuba, and from another with the mixed company Puertos del ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America), founded to promote the development and modernization of Venezuelan and Cuban port terminals.