Business & Economy

Unemployed persons working on the informal market represent 60 per cent of applicants for self-employment licenses, after the recent opening decreed by the government in 178 activities of this type, according to data from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

The Cuban-Venezuelan Cuvenpetrol joint venture will carry out modernization and expansion works in 2011 on the refinery in Cienfuegos, 250 km east of the Cuban capital, affirmed Ramón Curapiaca, the Venezuelan representative in that industry, which hopes to increase its processing capacity from 65,000 to 150,000 barrels a day of crude. The new works will make it possible to produce diesel with low sulphur content, improving the reliability of the electric power system and advancing in the construction of the liquefied gas factory.

Spain’s Sol Meliá hotel company inaugurated the Meliá Buenavista Hotel, a deluxe installation with Royal Service, in Cayo Santa María, on the northern coast of Cuba, Gabriel García, marketing director of the Cuba Division, announced. That company manages 21 per cent of all the rooms built on the island and in two decades of operations has contributed 3.664 billion dollars to the country.

The governments of Cuba and The Ukraine hope to strengthen bilateral cooperation in areas such as medicine, industry and tourism, the media reported after the meeting in Havana between the respective foreign ministers, Bruno Rodríguez and Konstantin Grishenko, According to the Ukrainian official, in 2010 there was a significant increase in commercial exchange, which last year was 23.5 million dollars.

National tourism became the second source of visitors for Varadero beach resort, 120 kilometers east of the Cuban capital, reported industry sources. In 2010 the arrival of Cuban tourists to the peninsula grew by nine per cent. Every year Varadero receives more than a million vacationers, led by Canadians.

Despite the four per cent growth in tourist arrivals to Cuba until last November, the tourist sector’s income did not meet the forecast of the island’s authorities, the National Office of Statistics (ONE) reported. In 2011, the Caribbean country hopes to increase by 29.5 per cent the amount of money that enters the nation through that means, as a result of a 10.3 per cent increase in the number of visitors.

The Cuban tourism authorities expect to increase the arrival of cruise ships to the island in 2011, with the operations of ships from Russia, Canada and the UK, José Manuel Bisbé, marketing director of the Ministry of Tourism, announced. Moreover, the Caribbean nation will increase air links with Canada, its principal tourist market with almost one million visitors a year, with the start of flights by the Air Transat and Sunwing airlines.

The Cuban International Cigar Company (ICT) increased its exports by 7.5 per cent as compared to last year, by marketing 119.3 million cigar packages, Blas Manuel Fernández, economic director of that entity, reported. In 2010 the ICT carried out sales worth 18.8 million dollars of its catalogue of 10 Havana cigar brands.

Cuban and Chinese authorities have agreed to normalize their financial relations as a result of the 23rd Session of the Intergovernmental Commission. The Asian giant also gave the island an unspecified interest-free governmental credit and a donation, both for development projects.