Business & Economy

Cuba will import black and blond tobacco, as well as rice, from Ecuador, among other products that traditionally did not form part of the bilateral trade exchange, the Foreign Ministry of the Andean nation reported. Both countries signed an economic protocol that establishes tariff preferences for hundreds of products.

Agricultural products with the greatest demand in Cuba suffered a notable drop in 2010, especially potatoes, beans and rice, regulars in meals of families on the island, notes last year’s Economic and Social Panorama, published by the National Office of Statistics. Although in general fruit, tubers and cereal production grew, the balance compared to 2009 was unfavorable in garden vegetables, leguminous plants and citrus.

The Cohiba Behike BHK 52 cigar brand, produced in the Havana factory of El Laguito, was declared the best in the world by the specialized Cigar Aficionado magazine, which described 2010 as the best year for Cuban cigars because of their excellent quality.

The Cuban authorities have received more than 83,000 license applications for self-employment since the opening to the private sector decreed by the government late last October, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security announced. The measure is an attempt to absorb part of the half million persons who will be laid off until next March.

The Cuba Ron S.A. company brought out a new brand of rum, Caney 12 years, produced in the factory of the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, rum master Tranquilino Placencia announced. According to the expert, all of the production of 2011 is already under contract.

A policy change by Cuba’s government is bringing cruiser tourism back to the Caribbean island. On Wednesday the British cruise ship Thomson Dream with over 1,500 passengers pulled into Havana Harbor for a two-night stay.

Cuba’s Cubatabaco state-run company brought a lawsuit against U.S. businessman Ismail Houmani for using in his cigar and cigarette shop a name very similar to the Casas del Habano (Cigar shops), the Miami-based El Nuevo Herald reported. The Casa de La Habana, which was opened in Michigan 10 years ago, sells cigars made in Honduras, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.

The labor reform in the state sector, which will represent the laying off of half a million persons by the end of March, begins today in Cuba in the ministries of the sugar industry, agriculture, construction, public health and tourism, announced Salvador Valdés, general secretary of the Central Organization of Cuban Trade Unions, the only union organization in the country.

“The Cuban economy will get rid of the padding, inefficiency and formalism which has permeated it for years” with the reforms announced by the Raul Castro government, which will be discussed during the April congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, said Roberto Verrier Castro, president of the National Association of Economists and Accountants of Cuba.

The Hotel Nacional de Cuba, considered the island’s flagship tourist installation, today is celebrating 80 years, Antonio Martínez Rodríguez, general manager of the hotel, announced. The hotel, visited by political, sport and cultural personalities, has maintained an average occupancy rate of around 75 per cent in the last decade.