E C O N O M Y

• 2006: Favorable results
November 21, 2006
HOLGUIN.—This year, 2006, has been a year of hard work , with undeniably good results in diverse fields, and an indication that we can do things much better, stated Carlos Lage, member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers at the end of a tour of the province. On the subject of energy, he asserted that with respect to the use of diesel and gasoline, we are still a long way off from achieving the savings that could be made and called for greater control so that fuel can be used for the economy with the maximum efficiency possible.

• Press Release from the Central Bank of Cuba
November 17, 2006
As is widely known, in late 2004, Cuba had to take measures to substitute the Cuban Convertible Peso for the dollar in monetary circulation, with the goal of frustrating the perfidious attempt by the United States government to prevent dollars in cash that had arrived in Cuba via completely legal channels from being utilized to pay for part of our imports of goods and services. At the time, it was extensively explained how the U.S. government was bringing pressures to bear against the Swiss Bank UBS to prohibit it from carrying out its normal business with Cuba.
 
• Canadians inaugurate pavilion at Cuban trade fair
October 31, 2006
HAVANA, October 31 (PL) —. More than 50 Canadian companies and organizations are attending the 24th Havana Trade Fair (FIHAVE 2006), and are to inaugurate their pavilion today.

• Cuba and China sign biotechnology cooperation agreement
October 19, 2006
AN agreement establishing the third joint venture between Cuba and China in the biotechnology sphere, now with the preparation of Neuro-technological products, was signed last night during the closing event of the 2nd Working Group Conference for Cuban-Chinese Biotechnological Cooperation.

• LEADING UP TO THE 24TH HAVANA TRADE FAIR
More than 750 companies from 43 countries and official delegations
from 11 nations
October 19, 2006
DESPITE the ongoing, all-out efforts by the Bush administration to intensify its blockade of Cuba, the island continues to expand its trade relations, as may be seen at the Havana Trade Fair (FIHAV), which opens the doors to its 24th edition on October 30.

•Bacardi: from C-4 to flamethrowers
September 28, 2006
IT is pretty ironic that the Bacardi company, which for 50 years has financed the Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF) and the C-4 of Posada Carriles, would be victims of a consumer demand, victims of a bottle of the controversial rum converted into a flamethrower.

• 37 States Now Exporting Food To Cuba; $57 Million In Poultry Alone
September 27, 2006
Havana, Cuba (AHN).— Ever since a Congressional loophole allowed for the sale of food to Cuba, despite America's embargo of the communist island nation, estimates say millions, if not over a billion dollars now pour into the country through trade.

• Havana Trade Fair announced
August 22, 2006
THE 24th edition of the Havana Trade Fair (FIHAV) takes place from October 30 to November 4 at its usual venue, Expocuba, the country’s largest fairground, the organizing committee has announced.

• Cuba to boost alcohol production capacity fivefold
June 27, 2006
THE Cuban sugar industry is about to embark on an accelerated program of alcohol production, increasing productive capacity fivefold by modernizing existing distilleries and installing new sugar cane fermentation plants.

• Alabama congress in favor of trade and travel with Cuba
May 3, 2006
THE Alabama state legislature has approved a resolution urging the U.S. Congress to lift all trade, financial and travel restrictions related to Cuba.  The resolution was announced on April 26, during the signing of an agreement between the Cuban company Alimport and Ron Sparks, Alabama’s agriculture commissioner, providing for sales to Cuba of $20 million in U.S. foodstuffs, $7 million of which were concretized during a visit to the island by a delegation from that state.

• Joint venture with Canada to expand nickel production to 49,000 tons
April 19, 2006
AN ambitious program to expand the annual capacity of the Cuban-Canadian nickel plus cobalt joint venture to 49,000 tons per year has begun in the eastern province of Holguín.

• Barrel of oil in excess of $70 in London
April 14, 2006
LONDON, April 13.—This Thursday Brent North Sea oil reached $70.57 per barrel in London, thus marking a new historical record within the framework of the nuclear dispute between the United States and Iran and oil reserves in the former country.

• Joint venture to reactivate Cienfuegos refinery
April 11, 2006
WITH the signing today of an association agreement and the complementary documents, the PDV-CUPET Ltd joint venture to reactivate the oil refinery in the province of Cienfuegos has been constituted. The oil companies PDVSA of Venezuela and CUPET of Cuba authorized the formalization of the agreement to their respective subsidiaries PDVSA CUBA and Comercial CUPET, thus fulfilling the letter of intent signed on April 28, 2005 under the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, an initiative of Presidents Hugo Chávez of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Fidel Castro of Cuba.

• Growth in exports compensases for overseas purchases
February 17, 2006
CUBA’s foreign trade grew by 23% last year, and nearly 10 billion pesos worth of trade was carried out, surpassing what was registered in 1991, before the start of the Special Period. Growth in exports of goods and services in 2005 compensated for spending on imports, affirmed Raúl de la Nuez, minister of foreign trade, in an interview with Granma daily.

• Cuba to buy more vehicles from China
February 17, 2006
CUBA is negotiating the purchase of approximately 8,000 vehicles from the People’s Republic of China, President Fidel Castro informed after announcing that in upcoming weeks, 30 buses from that Asian nation will go into service to transport passengers between Havana and Pinar del Río.

• The poor nations must unite in this globalized world
February 8, 2006
PRESIDENT Fidel Castro accompanied Doctor Mahathir Bin Mohamad, the former prime minister of Malaysia, during his special address to the 8th International Conference of Economists on Globalization and Problems of Development.

• Differences between rich and poor hard to solve in the WTO
December 15, 2005
HONG KONG, China, December 14.—The contradictions between the underdeveloped and developed nations within the 6th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization seemed insoluble today, at the end of the second day of the meeting, PL reports.

• FIHAV 2005 demonstrates Cuba’s commercial development
November 9, 2005
THE 23rd edition of the Havana Trade Fair wound up successfully with meetings, signed letters of intent and contracts between Cuban enterprises and companies from various countries, as well as the exhibition of the newest products that qualify the event as one of the largest trade fairs on the continent and an exponent of Cuba’s commercial development, despite the blockade and climatic adversities.

• 23rd Havana Trade Fair
Contracts worth more than $400 million
November 2, 2005
DESPITE the blockade and the wake of Hurricane Wilma, the 23rd edition of the Havana Trade Fair promises to be one of the most successful, given that commercial agreements have been reached worth more than an estimated $400 million. Contracts with companies from the United States, Venezuela, China and Canada were the high point of Cuba’s main trade fair, where it was announced during the opening that the island’s economy is presenting a moderate but steady ascent.

• Agricultural cooperation between Cuba and Canada to increase
September 16, 2005
HAVANA, September 15 (NOTIMEX).—The ministers of agriculture of Cuba and Canada have signed an Agreement of Understanding to develop actions of mutual cooperation in different areas, the Cuban embassy in Ottawa announced today.

• Governor of Nebraska favors normalization of relations
August 16, 2005
REPRESENTATIVES from more than a dozen companies in the state of Nebraska and the Cuban enterprise Alimport have begun negotiations in Havana for the potential sale of agricultural products to Cuba.

• The law that unleashed the U.S. economic war against Cuba
July 21, 2005
WHEN the First Agrarian Reform Act was signed in Cuba on May 17, 1959, the United States sentenced the Cuban Revolution to death with an economic war that it continues to maintain by way of the blockade.

• Oil, the only US interest in Africa
July 7, 2005
THE discovery of oil in Africa would seem to have begun to reinsert the continent into the dynamics of world trade and has resuscitated considerable interest on the part of the US government. In the autumn of 2002, the British magazine The Economist made an accusation to that effect that was echoed by officials and researchers.

• House Committee trying to facilitate Cuba-US trade
June 24, 2005
ACCORDING to Reuters, on Tuesday the House Appropriations Committee passed an amendment to deactivate the Treasury Department measure of last February increasing the limitations on food sales to Cuba.

• Louisiana draws closer to Cuba
March 10, 2005
 LOUISIANA Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and Pedro Alvarez, director of the Cuban firm Alimport, have signed a $15 million trade deal for rice, dairy products, soya, fish feed stock and other goods from that US state.

• Cuba signs expansion agreement with Canadian firm Sherrit
March 4, 2005
Cuba has signed an agreement with Canadian company Sherrit International, aimed at expanding their joint venture in the nickel industry, official sources reported today.

• Cuban tropical fruits in Europe and Canada
March 4, 2005
ORGANIC coconuts, papaya and mango pulp are some of the new exportable agricultural products in Cuba that have been introduced to – and well-received in –the competitive tropical fruit market in Europe and Canada.

• Cigar festival contributes $1.3 million to public health in its first decade
March 1, 2005
WITH an auction featuring several cigar cases signed by President Fidel Castro that fetched 530,000 euros, a total contribution of $1.3 million to Cuban public health has been made during the first decade of festivals dedicated to the best cigars in the world.

• Handcrafted pleasures
February 24, 2005
PERHAPS most citizens of the world, with a lighter in their hands and poised to enjoy the delicacies of a cigar, do not stop for a second to think about the long history that the exquisite fragrance of a cigar treasures, elaborated for the solace and pleasure that have gained many aficionados and notable people from diverse eras.

• Latin America sustaining the US budget deficit
February 18, 2005
INSTEAD of serving to protect the population the current economic model of the Latin America and the Caribbean is forcing them to emigrate. For experts meeting at the 7th International Conference on Globalization and the Problems of Development in Havana, the region’s principal export line is that of persons and large-scale emigration to the developed nations.

• Higher income for the same quantity of fruit
February 18, 2005
DIVERSIFICATION in the Cuban citrus industry has made it possible to increase income whilst exporting the same amount of fruit to the European and Canadian markets. Percy Ruiz, president of the Ministry of Agriculture’s fruit industry group, indicated that they are not only offering fresh fruit but also regular juice, and concentrated and frozen juice that has been aseptically processed.

• Oil production contract with Chinese enterprise
January 31, 2005
THE national Cubapetróleo company and SINOPEC of China have signed a joint production contract for one of the island’s potential oil regions, announced the ministry of basic industry in a press release dated January 30.

• Fruits take their rightful place
December 30, 2004
IN a hot country like Cuba, to drink a chilled juice or eat a piece of fruit is the most desirable way to quench your thirst on an island that has an almost permanent summer. The availability of fresh fruit in the farmers’ markets has its ups and downs, but what do remain high are the prices.

• Cuba optimizes its financial machinery for 2005
December 30, 2004
CUBA is today optimizing its financial machinery given what will be an increase in external flows from the island in 2005, a product of the positive economic prospects announced by President Fidel Castro in the Cuban Parliament.

• Significant increase in education and health budgets for 2005
December 24, 2004
FOR 2005, 68% of the state budget spending is to be directed to raising the levels of education, public health, social security, culture, sports and science and technology, announced Georgina Barreiro, minister of finance and prices, on presenting the draft budget law to deputies.

• FIDEL WITH U.S. BUSINESSPEOPLE IN HAVANA
"I admire what you are doing"
December 17, 2004
"YOU are not harming anyone, you are not harming your country," President Fidel Castro told American farmers participating in trade talks between Cuba and U.S. food companies.

• Trade negotiation round underway with U.S. business sector
December 16, 2004
Despite U.S. government restrictions imports of foodstuffs from that country have continued throughout 2004.

• Missiles dictate the balance of the world economy
December 1, 2004
IN the eastern part of New Guinea, a transnational corporation is operating the largest gold mine on the planet, valued at more than $80 billion. However, in this same place, thousands of its inhabitants have died due to drought ruining harvests and leaving consequences such as starvation and malaria.

• The first Cigar Shop of Beijing
November 30, 2004
BEIJING, nov 29 (Prensa Latina).— The first Cigar Shop of Beijing began to work Monday in a luxurious hotel in this capital, for the retailer distribution of the famous Cuban cigars.

• Cuba buys Montana agricultural products
November 29, 2004
HELENA.—Cuba has satisfied a historic trade agreement to buy Montana-grown wheat, dried beans and peas worth $10 million. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who helped broker the deal, announced Tuesday that the Cuban government has bought $10.4 million worth of Montana crops, making good on an agreement reached last year between the communist island nation and Montana farmers.

• China to buy 4,000 tons of Cuban nickel per year
November 23, 2004
FOUR of the 16 documents signed between Cuba and China in the framework of the visit by President Hu Jintao are linked to nickel, a mineral of which the island possesses one of the principal world reserves.

• ‘I’m backing Cuba’
November 19, 2004
A beautiful flame ASIA KIA PICANTO showed on its windscreen the gold medal won by FINAUTO, the Italian enterprise that exports vehicles of various kinds to Cuba. Its representative, Massimo Bonanno, feels very proud, as do his workers, of the reward for so many years of constant work on the island.

• Convertible peso emerges fortified
November 17, 2004
“WE can guarantee a convertible peso with an acceptable value on an international scale,” President Fidel Castro assured.

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