Chronicle on Cuba - July 2007

Economy

July 4: A teaching laboratory on alternative energy is being built in Pinar del Rio, the director of investments for the Electronic Components Factory, Jesus Hernandez, stated.  Hernandez told Prensa Latina that the aim is to seek less pollutant energy sources and with larger renovation capacity. "This concern," said the expert, "is a kind of open park, the first of this kind in the island, located outside the factory." According to Hernandez, systems for water pumping, semaphores, rotors, cooking, and air-generators, whose functioning depends on solar energy, are some productions to be exhibited in public after its starting-up in October. The initiative is part of a national policy undertaken by Cuba since 2005 and known as the "Energy Revolution," focused on saving and using renewable energies like solar, water and wind. (Prensa Latina, 4/7/07)

July 4: Cuba is considering bolstering the participation of foreign investors in sectors crucial to the island's economic development, members of Havana's expatriate business community told the press. They said that the Cuban government would seek to increase foreign investment selectively and in industries that can contribute to economic growth and reduce the country's excessive dependence on imports. Those "strategic" areas include tourism, oil and mining and construction, the sources said. In recent months, the island's Communist government has instructed its economists to prepare reports on activities that can be developed with the help of foreign investment, the business leaders said. Cuba "has looked closely after its relations with Venezuela and neglected its relations with other countries and now it seems it wants to recover them, diversify its risks and, at the same time, increase its liquidity," said a European business leader who spoke on condition of anonymity. (EFE, 4/7/07)

July 4: The Cuban Deputy-Minister for Science, Technology and the Environment (CITMA), José Antonio Díaz-Duque, indicated that the wildfire at the Ciénaga de Zapata natural reserve caused "major damage" to the local flora and fauna. The deputy-minister estimated that between 2,000 and 3,000 hectares "may have been" affected and that it will take "no less than two years" for the area to recover. (EFE, 4/7/07)

July 4: Cuba has solved crippling energy shortages that plagued the island as recently as 2004 without sacrificing a long-term commitment to promoting environmentally friendly fuels, the head of the UN Environment Program said. The electric grid still relies too heavily on wasteful gas-flare reactors and heavy polluting diesel generators, but the communist government has taken important steps toward developing wind and solar power, as well as ethanol from sugar cane, said Achim Steiner, the program's executive director. ''Cuba a few years ago was facing a real energy crisis, 16 hours of (…) electricity cuts and therefore a realization that the economy was going to collapse under this system,'' said Steiner, in Havana for a conference on the environment and development. ''In terms of a short term response, it is quite remarkable how Cuba, under its economic conditions, managed to solve that crisis,'' he said. Steiner praised the energy revolution, but noted that things were far from ideal. A gas reactor throws a plume of dark smoke over Havana's otherwise idyllic bay and most vehicles here use leaded gasoline and diesel that fill the air with pollutants. (The New York Times, 4/7/07)

July 4: Cuba and South Africa signed an agreement in Havana which provides the country with the technical assistance of the island's specialists in the field of construction. The document was inked by South African Minister of Public Works, Angela Thoko Didiza, and Cuban Minister of Construction, Fidel Figueroa de la Paz. The signing ceremony was also attended by Thoko Didiza's accompanying delegation and by South African ambassador to Cuba, Thenjiwe Mtintso. (ACN, 4/7/07)

July 6: As Cuba strives to regain momentum in its stumbling tourism industry, the communist-run nation aims to build 50 more boutique hotels in historic areas and city centers to diversify from larger hotels common on the island's beachfronts, mainly all-inclusive resorts in tourist enclaves. Many employees of small hotels back the boutique push. They say smaller properties allow more personal exchanges with guests, more like family. "You can really feel like it's your own house," said Marcela Morales, 43, a veteran employee at Hotel Santa Isabel, who rattles off the building's century-plus history from its days as home to the Count of Santovenia to its recent hosting of such guests as former U.S. President Carter, singer Sting and actor Jack Nicholson. "I'm proud to work here." Tourism experts see promise in the small hotels, a push that will spur more visitors to spread around the island. But they caution that 50 boutique properties won't be enough to energize Cuba's tourism industry, beset with woes from rising prices to weak service. (Sun Sentinel, 6/7/07)

July 8: Longtime aviation partners Cuba and Russia have renewed their alliance in a deal promising increased cooperation in services and training, the Cuban official daily Granma reported. Civil Aeronautics Institute President Rogelio Acevedo and visiting Russian Transport Minister Igor Yevgenyevich Levitin signed the deal, which will cover tourism, cargo, and passenger services. "We have increased relations in the delivery of Russian aircraft and the training and testing of pilots, with an eye toward the 20 percent annual increase in Russian tourists to this continent," Levitin told Granma. Cuba purchased five new Russian aircraft in 2006, two Ilyuchin 96 and three Tupolev to serve the two million visitors to Cuba annually. (Tehran Times, 8/7/07)

July 9: Cuban Deputy Minister of Sciences, Technology and Environment (CITMA), Fernando Gonzalez, arrived in the Dominican Republic to sign an environmental cooperation agreement between the two nations and Haiti. Gonzalez, who traveled accompanied by CITMA director of International Relations, Jorge L. Chavero, will sign an accord on the creation of the first Caribbean Environmental Corridor to mitigate the decline of biological diversity in that region. The document will also be inked by Dominican and Haitian ministers of Environment, Max Puig and Jean Marie, respectively. (Radio Habana Cuba, 9/7/07)

July 9: Cuba opened a commercial mission in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, since trade between the two Caribbean countries has increased considerably in the last months. While the two countries compete in the tourism market, Cuba offers services in the healthcare industry that it hopes to attract Dominican investment. (Global Insight Daily Analysis, 12/7/07)

July 9: More than six thousand windmills have already been installed in Cuba as part of the country's efforts to develop the use of renewable sources of energy. Among the beneficiaries of these mills are several hundreds of facilities of the Agriculture Ministry related to cattle-raising. According to Conrado Moreno, director of the Technical University of Renewable Energy, the first windmills arrived in Cuba early in the 20th century and, at first, they were used in the province of Camagüey. Moreno added that Camagüey also witnessed the construction of the first Cuban-made windmills although today they are only made in the provinces of Pinar del Río and Granma. (Ahora, 9/7/07)

July 10: Brazil might start exports of fresh beef to Cuba, Brazilian Agricultural Defence (SDA) secretary linked to the country's Agriculture Ministry, Inacio Kroetz, said. Inacio Kroetz returned from a two-day visit to Cuba. He was invited by Cuba's Government and participated in a workshop for animal health sanitary control in Brazil. The workshop was organised by the Cuban Agriculture Ministry's Veterinary Institute and was attended by a number of Cuban meat suppliers and distributors. (Latin America News Digest, 10/7/07)

July 11: The UN Development Programme (UNDP) will support Cuba's energy sector, stated Susan McDade, resident representative of that institution in Cuba. Mc Dade said one of the UNDP cooperation programs for 2008-2012 period will support the rational and efficient use of energy in Cuba. She added that other areas of cooperation on environmental issues contained in the 1987 Montreal Protocol will include protected areas, community development, soil management and the elimination of substances that deplete the ozone layer. The UN coordinator explained that funds will be spent on equipment, supplies, training, and studies. She also praised the scientific rigor of Cuban experts in cooperation programs undertaken in Cuba by the UNDP for three decades now. (ACN, Radio Habana Cuba, 12/7/07)

July 12: A partnership between the Cuban government and South African companies may see pharmaceutical products used to treat infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis being developed locally. Cuban embassy counsellor Enrique Orta said the country sought to develop further partnerships with local companies that would result in the transfer of knowledge to benefit South African citizens. Cuba, which has several state-owned research and development institutions, sought to build relationships to develop vaccines for infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria, said economic and trade counsellor Maylem Rivero. Rivero was addressing delegates from the South African pharmaceutical industry at a seminar hosted by the International Trade Bureau, which was launched in February with the intention of fostering trade between countries. (Business Day, 13/7/07)

July 12: Cuba is sending a technical team to Trinidad as the Patrick Manning led government initiates plans to develop agricultural farms across the country. Agriculture Minister, Jarette Narine, speaking at the end of the weekly Cabinet meeting, said invitations for the development of these farms would soon be placed in the local, regional and international media. He said Cabinet had given approval for the establishment of 15 large farms in the country as well as the intervention of the Cubans in the project. (Radio Jamaica, 13/7/07)

July 14: A national program to optimize the organization and work performance of the warehousing companies, and to achieve a better distribution from them that better fits the needs of distribution of goods and the requirements for the saving of fuel, is now taking place throughout the country. This was stated by Carlos Lage Davila, Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers during a tour of warehousing facilities in Havana province. The main effort should be done this year, and practically ended by next year, Lage explained. The purpose of these efforts is to create better conditions for the distribution of food supplies that form part of the basic basket, and in general, of all social consumption, as well as the preservation of food that forms part of the nation's emergency reserves. Lage also visited the Baracoa poultry farm, one of the worst damaged by Hurricane Charlie. Lage said that now it has not only fully recovered from the damage caused by the storm, but also has better conditions, with new investments and its facilities are much better prepared to face the path of future adverse weather. (Granma, 14/7/07)

July 15: China will mass-produce a Cuban pesticide effective against dengue-carrying mosquitos, Cuba's foreign ministry said. Cuban scientists developed and patented Bactivec, a biolarvicide which kills larvae of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the dengue vector, the ministry statement said. According to the agreement, China will defray the cost of building the factory in China, and Cuban Labiofam scientists will provide the technology and know-how to build it. Cuba will purchase six million units annually of the insecticide, and China will donate another half million to Cuba, the statement said. (AFP, 15/7/07)

July 16: TACA airlines announced that due to popular demand, it is adding new flights from Juan Santamaría International Airport, just outside San José, to Guatemala, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. These new flights were inaugurated to “strengthen ties between Central America and the Caribbean ” and “expand the list of services” offered to clients. (Daily News, 17/7/07) 

July 16: The largest wooded area in the country, with 39.7 percent of the territory covered with trees, exists in the westernmost province of Cuba, thanks to a reforestation project underway. The adopted reforestation strategy consists of planting two hectares of trees per each hectare of forest that is harvested. (Prensa Latina, 17/7/07)

July 17: Belarus will ship 100 urban buses to Cuba by late 2007. The two parties have been discussing the project since April 2006, when Belarus Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky visited Cuba. The project aims to renew Havana’s bus fleet. Igor Poluyan, Belarusian Ambassador to Havana, stressed that Cuba has shown great interest in Belarusian products such as tractors, trucks for various applications and spare parts. In 2006 Belarus shipped almost 200 MTZ tractors to Cuba. The signed contracts are expected to at least double the figure this year, said the Ambassador. (Belta, 17/7/07) 

July 17: Cuba and Venezuela are working to form joint metal working companies as part of the projects derived from the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) Cuban minister Marta Lomas announced. The head of Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation for the island told the press that these companies would work on the production of stainless steel and iron-nickel. Lomas heads the delegation to the first meeting of ALBA technical commissions and the People’s Trade Treaty inaugurated in the Venezuelan capital. Sixteen workshops set up with the participation of 200 specialists from Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, will debate the objectives of the projects approved by the ALBA Council of Ministers in June. Lomas announced that the next meeting of ministers will be in Havana on September 3 and 4 and it will analyze the agreements of the technical commissions that will start their work in Caracas. (Prensa Latina, 17/7/07)

July 19: Cuba will import a minimum 250,000 tonnes of sugar in 2007 to meet local demand after the harvest fell short by around 400,000 tonnes, industry and trade sources said. According to Reuters estimates, Cuba produced more than 1 million tonnes of raw sugar, but less than the 1.2 million tonnes milled in 2006 which was termed the worst harvest in a century. No official figures were released for the second year in a row. Cuba imported just over 250,000 tonnes of low-grade whites from Brazil and Colombia in 2006, according to the International Sugar Organization. (Reuters, 19/7/07)  

July 20: Cuban Basic Industry Minister Yadira García Vera said that the overhaul of an oil refinery built in 1991 “is making fast progress.” According to the official newspaper Granma, the facility will be operated by a joint venture between Cuba and Venezuela beginning next December. The government official announced that "in the coming months all upgrades to distillation and vapor fume-processing equipment as well as boilers should be completed and we should be in a position to refine approximately 65,000 barrels daily." (El Universal, 20/7/07)

July 22: Vice President Carlos Lage said during a visit to an energy facility outside the capital that Cuba was currently producing nearly half of the oil and gas it consumed. Lage, who is also secretary of the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers, visited the installations of Empresa de Perforacion y Extraccion de Petroleo y Gas de Occidente in the Havana suburb of Santa Cruz del Norte to mark the oil company's reaching 1 million tons of crude production. The company, whose goal is to produce 1.8 million tons of oil this year, is one of the island's largest energy firms, state television and the AIN news agency reported. Lage said new exploratory wells were being drilled and established wells had allowed Cuba to expand its oil reserves, with production in 2008 expected to match this year's level. Cuba "has been acquiring the capacity to service producing wells. Today, the country has 12 machines to drill wells, five machines to repair wells and two for the process of cementation," Lage said. "Up until now, we depended on foreign firms, and we had to contract the machines to drill, repair and cement the wells," the Cuban official said. (EFE, 22/7/07)  

July 23: A contract for the delivery of Tupolev Tu-204 passenger jets to the Cuban airlines is pending, General Designer of Tupolev corporation Igor Shevchuk said. "A contract for the delivery of several more Tu-204 to Cuba is under work," he said in an interview published in Aviapanorama magazine. He said Cuban representatives are receiving the first of two aircraft built in Russia. It is a cargo version of the plane.  "The first passenger airliner will be delivered later for operation on Cuban airlines," Shevchuk said. (Interfax, 23/7/07)

July 23: Iranian Trade Minister Sayed Masoud Mirkasemi started official talks in Cuba, to ink an accord with priorities in establishing taxes. Kasemi and his accompanying delegation arrived in the island the day before and his agenda includes meetings with Cuban Foreign Trade Minister Raul de la Nuez, Government Minister Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, Foreign Trade and Economic Collaboration Minister Marta Lomas, and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque. Also on the list is to visit the Center for Genetics Engineering and Biotechnology in the western part of Havana and the Old Havana historical quarter and its System of Colonial Fortifications. Iran has plans to export 88 types of products to Cuba and import 44 different products from the same country, according to a preferential trade agreement between Iran and Cuba, Mehdi Ghazanfari, the Iranian leader of the Trade Promotion Organization, said. Iranian Commerce Minister Massud Mirkazemi is expected to sign the agreement with Cuban Foreign Trade Minister Raul de la Nuez in an attempt to strengthen their countries' relations. (Escambray, Stratfor, 23/7/07)

July 24: The governments of Iran and Cuba signed in Havana a trade agreement that allows for preferential tariff treatment covering more than 140 products. The Minister of Commerce of Iran, Sayed Masoud Mir Kasemi, and of Cuba, Raúl de la Nuez, signed the document. A source with the Cuban Foreign Trade Ministry said that Cuba will benefit from a line of credit for approximately 264 million USD, granted by Iran. (EER, 24/7/07)

July 24: A Lagos-based non-governmental agency, has urged stakeholders in the manufacturing sector to take advantage of the pledge by Cuba to transfer ethanol production technology to Nigeria. In a chat recently, Cuban Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Elio Olivia, said his sugar producing country was ready to share its expertise in the production of varieties of sugar cane, and alternative sources of energy with Nigeria.  According to Mr. Ben Adighibe, Executive Secretary of the New Ethnic organization, “the offer by Cuba would help localize ethanol production technology and also boost trade relations between the two countries” (Vanguard, 24/7/07)

July 26: Doctors of Kuala Lumpur Hospital's Cancer Research Center are testing in this country a therapeutical vaccine to treat malignant tumors, developed by scientists of the Cuban Molecular Immunology Center (CIM). The vaccine EGF-P64K, against cancer, is not prophylactic, but therapeutic, to fight the growing carcinogenic cells, doctors Gisela Gonzalez, the project's manager and Carmen Barroso, oncologist of the CIM clinic research board of directors, explained after starting the testing stage. "Relations between Cuba and Malaysia began many years ago, and we will maintain our support to this project against cancer," Malaysian Health Vice-minister Abdul Latiff Ahmad said. (Prensa Latina, 26/7/07)

July 27: Cuba's actively serviced foreign debt jumped nearly $2 billion in 2006 to $7.794 billion as foreign suppliers more than doubled their credits to the country, according to figures posted on the Web site of the National Statistics Office. Most of Cuba's new debt was believed by local analysts to be due to fresh credits from China and Venezuela. In 2005, Cuba's "active" debt, or debt on which Cuba pays interest and principal, stood at $5,898 billion. The so-called active debt was borrowed since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Debt owed to suppliers jumped to 36.2 percent of the total last year, more than double the 16 percent share in 2005 as trade with China nearly doubled. Foreign supplier debt usually refers to financing extended with the shipments of goods to a country. Venezuela extends up to 60 percent credit on its oil supplies to Cuba, though it was not clear if all the loans were classified as being related to suppliers. Cuba last reported its "inactive" debt, or the debt it is not paying interest on and which was built up after Cuba defaulted on its obligations in the 1980s, as $8 billion in 2004. (Reuters, 27/7/07)

July 27: Cuba's trade deficit widened 21 per cent last year to $6.335 billion, but the export of its services, such as medical treatments, curbed the deficit in its current account balance of payments to $239.7 million, official statistics showed. The data, posted on the website of the National Statistics Office, showed the account deficit in 2006 reversed a $140.2 million surplus in 2005, a year when the trade deficit was a smaller $5.234.6 billion. The data did not provide a reason for the current account going into deficit. Service exports rose, according to the data. Also favouring Cuban accounts, there was a decline in the net outflow in the "income" category that includes profit repatriation by foreign companies. The current account balance of payments is considered the broadest measure of any country's external transactions. It includes trade, services such as tourism and financial transfers. (Calgary Herald, 28/7/07)

July 31: Jose Luis Machinea, executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), highlighted in Santiago de Chile Cuba's economic results and its 12.5 percent growth in 2006. Cuba is growing more, partly because of the investments in human resources it has carried out as a nation, the official told Prensa Latina at the presentation of the 2006-2007 Economic Study on Latin America and the Caribbean, at the regional entity's headquarters in Santiago. The Caribbean island "is exporting many more services than it did in the past, and takes advantage of international prosperity in a context where it has qualified exportable labor force," he said. [ECLAC’s Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2006-2007: Cuba,] (Prensa Latina, 31/7/07)