Our woman in Havana, Georgina Noakes, visits the offices of Rado & Associates

LA HABANA (Havana), Cuba, is one of the most exciting cities in the world. But visit it quickly before it gets totally restored. The city has been declared a world heritage site and, with the help of UNESCO grants, the baroque Spanish architecture, hailing from the 16th century onwards, is being renovated, bit by bit. A Cuban historian, Leal Eusebio, is director of the restoration of Old Havana.

Historic cities around the world (Singapore comes to mind) have been destroyed to make way for late 20th century buildings, but it could be said that post-revolutionary Cuba saved Old Havana. Thousands of families from rural areas flocked to the city to live in the grand houses of pre-revolutionary days. State money was poured into health and education programmes, not housing. Nowadays, you will find old women hanging washing in the ballrooms of yesteryear and ten or twenty families living beyond the grand staircases of the old Spanish colonial summer palaces and houses, of which there are many.

The city is throbbing with energy and lures you into an atmosphere akin to an old black and white movie set. Foreigners started visiting Cuba about ten years ago. Now there are hustlers who will sell you cigars or offer to take you on a tour of the city. Your hotel (new ones are opening at a pace) will give you personal recommendations. Guides are available to help you make the most of the treasures hidden behind the streets and alleyways of old Havana.

There is music around every street corner. Just a couple of turns off Obispo, the main street in Old Havana, will lead you into squares like jewels, restaurants in the shade of leafy courtyards filled with roaming chickens, and museums aplenty. One of the intriguing things about museums in Havana is that most have a school attached to them, so that children can literally grow up surrounded by their history and culture. Pictures of Che Guevara dominate not only the Plaza de la Revolucion but also many school classrooms. His presence, along with that of Fidel Castro, permeates everything in post-revolutionary Cuba.

Artists work off many of the main squares and will invite you to watch them at work as well as sell you their wares (licences are required for export). The trademark Havana post-war American cars, still used on a daily basis, some held together literally with elastic bands and old coat hangers (I joke not), pass by on the street and can be seen parked outside the Museo de la Revolucion and near the Parque de Fraternidad.

So, what does all this have to do with shipping? A lot. Due to trade embargoes with the USA (at the time of going to print the first US shipment of aid since 1961 had arrived in Cuba for survivors of the recent hurricanes), food and goods not produced on the island are imported by ship. And produce, such as lobster, is exported as far as Japan.

After the break-up of the former Soviet Union, a great deal of foreign aid to Cuba stopped and the island was nearly crippled by lack of external investment. However, over the last decade the growth of the tourist industry has brought foreign investment, and dollars, back into the country. Joint ventures with foreign businesses, though not yet (officially) with America, are on the increase. Unofficially, it is said that Cuban families in Miami support and probably own most of the non-state-owned restaurants in Havana. I met lots of American tourists, who fly in via Mexico. Most said US trade embargoes should be lifted.

Enroute to the port and situated in one of the prettiest squares at the very heart of Old Havana, La Calle de los Oficious, is the Cuban law firm Rado & Associates. It is well placed to advise on joint ventures with Cuba and is the recognised shipping practice in the country. Set up in 1994, the firm dealt exclusively with maritime affairs for the government but now its legal services have broadened from advising P&I clubs to surveying, cargo inspection, shipmanagement, port advice and claims as well as representing clubs in law suits and arbitrations in Cuba.

Cuban jurisdiction is similar to Roman law. There are three levels of courts - Regional, Provincial and the Supreme Court. The Provincial Court is where most claims are heard, but arbitration or mediation is the general rule for settling cases. Normally there is an agreement at the outset not to go to the Supreme Court. Ninety per cent of Rado's foreign work is provided by P&I clubs, and several of the firm's lawyers have spent time in the UK office as well as at London maritime law firms. Captain Cambes and Captain Blanco are both former Cuban Mercantile Marine officers and advise on condition surveys, collisions and pollution cases.

"The traditional industries of fishing and transportation are on the decrease in Cuba, but Havana is increasingly prepared for trade embargoes to be lifted with the US," said Meisi Weis and Alina Copperi of Rado & Associates.

"The firm can advise foreign investors not only on legal issues but can also give general advice to people wanting to set up businesses in Cuba, including feasibility studies, and valuations of assets. We can connect investors to architects, engineers, auditors and accountants. We also advise on insurance, risk management and real estate."

One of the main new hotels, The Hotel Tulip on Parque Central, is owned by a Dutch company. This is a departure from the post-revolutionary state ownership of all business in Cuba. Time will tell what foreign investment will do to influence and shape Cuba's future. Rado & Associates are just part of a greater move, and mood, of businesses that are interested in developing maritime and corporate legal connections around the world.

"You have to talk about the Cuban culture," enthuses Alina Copperi, who likens it to the coffee that's drunk black, with sugar, in copious amounts. "It is rich and everybody likes it. We are a happy people, we love music, painting, theatre and dancing. There is a great fusion of different cultures and races here but we are bound by a strong self-belief, a sense of belonging and solidarity.

"We are loyal, friendly, clear and direct to do business with," she concludes.