Business & Economy

Farms in urban and suburban areas have doubled in Cuba in the last three years in almost all the country’s municipalities, reported IPS. With that initiative the authorities hope to increase the deficit in food production and improve its distribution in the cities.

Cuba will resume the sending of mail to the United States starting tomorrow in response “to the easing of the safety measures announced by the Transportation Security Administration” of the U.S., according to a note released today by the island’s state-run press. However, the restrictions on postal packages will be maintained, the text specified.

Cuba expects the arrival this coming summer of an oil platform from China, which will confirm the existence of crude in under the waters of the island’s Exclusive Economic Zone in the Gulf of Mexico, announced Rafael Tenreyro, director of exploration of Cuba Petróleo (CUPET).

The export of vegetable coal to Europe will increase this year to 20,000 tons from the central province of Ciego de Avila, the largest amount in the last five years, reported IPS. That non-traditional production also favors the cleaning of the fields infested with the marabou bush weed.

At least two government officials in the central province of Sancti Spíritus will be tried for abuse of power and embezzlement of state resources, which made Diana María Companioni resign from her post as president of the province’s government.

The Indio Hatuey Pasture and Fodder Experimental Station, in the western province of Matanzas, will promote the extension of agro-ecological systems independent from oil in order to achieve a sustainable development in agriculture, said Milagros Milera, specialist with that scientific center.

HAVANA TIMES, March 31 – The Havana Club International Company will request a new hearing after the decision by the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia to not recognize that rum brand’s registration, under the name of Cubaexport for 35 years, states French Pernod Ricard group in a press release.

Cuban President Raúl Castro announced the opening of credits for the farmer sector and persons authorized to exercise self-employment, in an expanded meeting of the Council of Ministers. In addition, small private enterprises will now be able to offer products and services to state entities.

Cuban specialists will present their experiences in the use of zeolite, a mineral used on the island in sectors such as health, construction and agriculture, during the Earth Sciences Convention, which will begin next week in the island’s capital.

Until yesterday Cuba had an Economy and Planning minister who was also in charge of implementing the reforms in the country’s struggling economy. Now the government of Raul Castro has decided the job should be separated.