Bermuda could be sending its old buses, ferries and cars to Cuba if Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown's proposals go to plan.

The Minister travelled to Havana recently where he and his permanent secretary Marc Telemaque met with Government officials to discuss a number of initiatives.

Among the proposals was a joint venture for Bermuda's outdated, but still working, buses to be taken to Cuba, along with the sale of the Island's old ferries and cars.

And he said discussions were also held on the possibility of providing nonscheduled charter flights between Bermuda and the Cuban capital.

The Minister said: "They expressed immediate interest in a number of our proposals and we expect that there will be a representative or two from Cuba in Bermuda within the next 30 days for further discussion on our proposals.

"We know that the Cubans have a need for many kinds of transportation. We have buses which are no longer being used in our fleet, but which still have some life in them. We offered them to the Cuban Government.

"We also informed them of the availability of the Somerset ferries, which we will no longer be using at the end of this year."

Dr. Brown said Cuban officials were also interested in the fact that Bermuda each year had to deal with a number of old cars by cutting them in half and then disposing of them in a less than environment-friendly way.

And he said, again, Cuba may make use of the cars.

He added: "We offered the buses as a gift because we really have no use of these buses. The ferries we would negotiate a price for, as would be the case with respect to used cars.

And on the issue of extra flights, he said: "There is a chance of a direct flight to Cuba. That was included in our discussion.

"We discussed the possibility of a nonscheduled charter operation between Bermuda and Havana. We also discussed the possibility of Cubana Airlines stopping in Bermuda on its trans-Atlantic flights to Europe."

Dr. Brown said on the journey to Cuba, he and his colleagues had to stop off for two hours in Grand Cayman, and, while there, they met with officials to discuss transport and aviation issues.

And he said the officials were very excited by the prospect of a summit before the end of the year to discuss issues peculiar to both territories.