Business & Economy

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is in Cuba this week to seek a market for his state’s agricultural products and to promote cultural exchange. Allowing Cuba to export to the US goes beyond the talks since the US economic blockade on the island totally forbids it.

Cuba is getting ready to host the 15th Meeting and Incentive Travel Market (MITM) Regional Tourism Fair November 18 and 19 at the Hotel Meliá Cohiba in Havana.

Cuban customs authorities have increased the control of Cuban cigars leaving the country with the introduction of a new resolution. Cuban cigars have suffered from falsifications at an international level, in addition to a black market in Cuba, stoked by the economic crisis.

Some 9,000 Cuban tourism workers, a tenth of that sector’s employees, were relocated in other types of work because of the low season and the effect of the international financial crisis.

The Cuban authorities have detected 15,000 electricity frauds in the residential sector since January this year, reported IPS on Friday. The Caribbean country’s government is carrying out an energy saving campaign to attenuate the effects of the international economic crisis.

The Cuban Telecommunications Company (ETECSA) has reduced its international call rates through December 15 by over 40 percent, informed that Cuban-Italian company. Under the promotion all calls will now cost US $1.00 per minute compared to the previous US $1.80 to the United States and $3.80 to Spain, the two countries with the most Cuban immigrants.

The governments of Cuba and Ecuador signed in Quito a reciprocal preferential tariffs agreement that includes 400 products from both countries. The accord follows up on with what was agreed by President Rafael Correa during his visit to the Caribbean country last January.

The Iranian company Wagon Pars sold 550 train freight cars to its Cuban counterpart Ferrocarriles de Cuba for the transport of containers, fuel and cement. The purchase price is estimated at US $60 million.

The Cuban-Venezuelan oil refinery located in Cienfuegos, 230 kilometers southeast of Havana, has processed 35 million barrels of oil since its inauguration in 2007, announced Venezuelan Pedro Villarroel, general manager of the plant, which has a capacity to refine 65,000 barrels a day.

Cuba’s new Comptroller’s Office has its leader, Gladys Maria Brejerano Portela, voted in at the parliament session held over the weekend. Administrative deficiencies, a lack of controls and chains of theft have hampered the Cuban economy, -dominated by the State sector- for many years, keeping its performance way below potential.