Chronicle on Cuba - April 2008

Economy

April 1: Cuba is lending unused land to private farmers and cooperatives as part of a sweeping effort to revitalize a floundering agricultural sector and step up food production. Government television said that 51 percent of arable land is underused or fallow, a problem officials hope to rectify by temporarily transferring some of it to private farmers and associations representing small, private producers. The president of Cuba's national farmers association, Orlando Lugo, said "everyone who wants to produce tobacco will be given land to produce tobacco," and it will be the same for coffee or anything else. It was not clear how much land had been transferred and under what terms. (AP, 1/4/08)

April 1: Making the most of industrial capacities and yield with the lowest possible production costs are crucial tasks in the current sugar cane harvest in order to manage efficiency, said Cuban Sugar Minister Ulises Rosales. In remarks to local journalists, Rosales said we have advanced in the devised development strategy, supported by investments, which have had a relevant role in sugar cane production. He noted that 30 sugar refineries boast an upward trend in efficiency, but another 14 have failed to exploit their potential and must do their best to match up to their peers. Rosales referred to government efforts to support the harvest by securing more inputs and investments; therefore, cohesion achieved may lead the provinces to accomplish the task. Current international prices of sugar, either raw or refined ($380 per ton), justify sugar production in the country. This harvest is going better than that of last year, but we are still unhappy, as we know we can do better, he stressed. (Prensa Latina, 1/4/08)

April 2: In 2009, the Colombian government will set up a small ethanol plant in Cuba with a production capacity of 5,000 litres a day, announced the minister of Agriculture, Andrés Felipe Arias. The official indicated that during the visit of a Cuban delegation it was agreed that “a pilot plant with Colombian technology would be installed.” Colombia is the second largest producer of biofuels in Latin America, after Brazil. Presently it produces a million litres of ethanol a day and 170,000 of biodiesel. (EFE, 2/4/08)

April 2: CEIBA Investments, a closed-end fund that invests only in Cuba, plans to list on the London Stock Exchange (AIM) in June, a sign of growing interest in the socialist state since Fidel Castro was sidelined by illness. The fund, registered in the Channel Islands, announced this week it raised its capital by 18 million euros ($28 million) to 88 million euros ($137.3 million) in a share placing that was 70 percent oversubscribed. CEIBA is the only fund dedicated exclusively to investing in Cuba, focusing on real estate development and tourism. It is the foreign shareholder of the Cuban joint venture that owns the Miramar Trade Center, Havana's main business district. "We will be the first vehicle for investment in Cuba to be quoted on a major market," said the fund's managing director, Sebastiaan Berger, a Dutch lawyer. Berger said the oversubscription of shares at a time of gloom on financial markets showed that investors were really interested in Cuba. (Reuters, 2/4/08)  

April 2: Jamaica’s Agriculture minister Dr Christopher Tufton was scheduled to leave the island for a four-day working visit to Cuba. While in Cuba, Tufton, who will be accompanied by a small technical team from his ministry, will have discussions with government officials on a wide range of topics. "We are going to look at a number of issues including greenhouse and lobster projects and the possibility of that country providing agricultural extension services to Jamaica," Tufton told the press. (Jamaica Observer, 3/4/08)

April 2: Cuba's minister of government said Havana and Russia need to overcome past differences in their relationship and boost trade links, a Cuban news agency reported. During the first session in eight years of a bilateral intergovernmental commission in Havana attended by Russia's Transportation Minister Igor Levitin, Ricardo Cabrisas, Cuban Minister of Government, said that he hoped Moscow shared his views. Levitin, in his turn, told the commission that bilateral trade in 2007 reached $363 million, and the visit by the Russian delegation was aimed at finding new mechanisms to expand trade and economic ties, adding that Russia is interested in developing commercial ties with Cuba. Cabrisas also expressed hope that the signing of a number of bilateral documents would strengthen the work of the commission. (Itar-Tass, 2/4/08)  

April 3: Communist Cuba's soaring food imports and a decline in its cash crops of sugar, tobacco, coffee and citrus have led new President Raul Castro to launch what is developing into a sweeping reform of agriculture. Decision-making, from land use to resource allocation, has moved from the national to local level, stores are opening where farmers can buy some supplies for the first time in decades and increasingly they can sell their produce directly to local consumers and state institutions like schools and hospitals. For years, the country has leased plots of land to individuals interested in coffee and tobacco farming with poor results. The reforms, rolled out since late February when Raul Castro succeeded his ailing brother Fidel Castro to become Cuba's first new leader in 50 years, are coming none too soon, local experts said. "We have been calling for these changes for many years and expect more will be needed in the future," a local economist said, asking his name not be used. "It is the opportunity we have been waiting for, local and more direct attention from the authorities and resources so we can work," farmer Diogenes Fernandez said in a telephone interview from the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba. "Up to now our hands have been tied, there was nothing to work with, little motivation. Now everything is changing," Fernandez, a member of a state cooperative, said. (Reuters, 3/4/08)

April 3: Russian Transportation Minister Igor Levitin ended a four-day visit to Cuba, where he led his country’s mission to the 8th Cuba-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Commercial, Scientific and Technical Cooperation. Levitin attended the signing of one protocol, two memorandums and the final document of the Commission in ceremony held at the Cuban Ministry for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation. The Russian mission is also made up of Vadim Zingman, Commission Vice President and official of the Trade and Economic Development Ministry, Inter-governmental Commission Secretary Yury Gorskiy plus 100 officials, specialists and businessmen. Cuban Government Minister Ricardo Cabrisas led the Cuban mission while MINVEC official Belkis Barnet was the secretary of the bilateral commission. During his visit Minister Levitin met with his Cuban counterparts for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, Transportation, Communications, and MINVEC, plus the leadership of the Civilian Aeronautic Institute and President Raul Castro. (ACN, 3/4/08)

April 4: The wall of prohibitions that has marked Cuban life for years has begun to crumble, with the lifting of the bans on Cubans staying in upscale tourist hotels and buying mobile phones and computers. The obstacle now is money, or lack thereof. "It doesn't matter if I have to spend 10 years saving up to go to Varadero. It’s my right," a Cuban colleague told the press, referring to a popular resort. She said she was never able to accept the unwritten ban on Cubans staying in hotels reserved for tourists, which dates back to the 1990s. María Ramírez, a 70-year-old retired nurse, said she is grateful that she belongs to "another era," and treasures her good memories. "I stayed in the Habana Libre hotel and the Hotel Nacional when you could pay in pesos, in the early 1960s. I was able to give myself that treat, but I don't think my daughter could afford to stay a single night there," she said. With the Cuban monthly salary averaging 400 Cuban pesos, equivalent to 17 dollars, hotels that charge 70 to 100 convertible pesos (CUCs) a night are off-limits to people like Ángela, Ramírez’s daughter. (IPS, 4/4/08)

April 7: Cuba's baby steps toward liberalization may not be enough to attract demand in the island country's debt, despite the fire-sale price. Some liberalization has taken place and Cuban loans are indeed cheap compared with peers, but any meaningful changes may be slow in coming, market players said recently. Cuban loans are out-of-bounds for Americans due to the decades-old embargo but are fair game for other investors. After Raul Castro took over from his more famous, ailing elder brother Fidel, Cuba has allowed its citizens to buy the latest in electronics and stay in hotels previously reserved for tourists - some of the many changes that Cubans have cheered. For Peter Bartlett, the chief executive officer and managing director of boutique investment bank Exotix, the main reason to invest in Cuban debt is its bargain-basement price amid a dearth of available emerging-market sovereign debt. Cuban debt trades around 18 cents on the dollar, compared with 21 to 23 cents on the dollar for similar instruments from North Korea, another nation often shunned by the international community and in the periphery of emerging markets. London-based Exotix, which focuses on emerging-market illiquid and distressed debt and equity, is all but alone in repackaging Cuban loans into tradable notes. "We're getting several calls a week, whereas we used to get one call a week" about Cuba when Fidel Castro was still in power, Bartlett said. (Dow Jones Newswires, 7/4/08)
  
April 7: The government of Raul Castro will support the most efficient Cuban agricultural co-operatives — which farm their own land — with “material and technical resources” to increase food production. “Fifteen CPAs (Agricultural Production Co-operatives) in the entire country will be guaranteed material and technical resources, which will allow them to increase output,” reported the weekly newspaper Trabajadores. Under a program that will run until 2010, these units must increase their harvest up to 138,000 tons of product a year (up from three million Cuban quintals). (AFP, 7/4/08) 

April 7: A senior Communist Party official said increasing domestic food production in Cuba was a "matter of national security." The comments, published in the weekly Trabajadores newspaper, underscored efforts by Raul Castro's government to decentralize the state-dominated agricultural sector in order to improve efficiency and cut red tape. "Producing food in Cuba is a question of national security, given runaway inflation and scarcity on the world market," Maria del Carmen Concepcion, a member of the party's highest body, the secretariat, said during a meeting with farmers and their representatives. In the meeting with farmers, Concepcion heard complaints about large quantities of milk that are lost each day because of inadequate transportation, and farm equipment that lies idle due to a lack of electricity. Cuba has about 250,000 family farms and 1,100 private cooperatives in an economy that is 90 percent state controlled. They till less than a third of the land, and more than half of Cuba's arable land lies fallow. (Sun Sentinel, 7/4/08)

April 8: The Cuban government is considering opening up the farming sector to greater foreign investment and closing down farming cooperatives that have proven to be “totally inefficient”, top officials said. “We are currently studying some business proposals in agriculture”, Minister of Foreign Investment Marta Lomas told reporters, adding that in matters of foreign investment “nothing is off the table”. She said the effort was focusing on “rice production”, but that foreign investment could also benefit “other sectors like livestock”, and take on “different (business) formulas other than joint ventures, such as looking for financial backing”. The measures are part of President Raul Castro's much vaunted economic and social reform programme for Cuba, which he has been implementing since he officially took over from his ailing brother Fidel Castro in late February. (Thomson Financial, 8/4/08)

April 9: Cuban agriculture minister Ulises Rosales del Toro told the local press that recent heavy rainfall could cause Cuban sugar output to fall by 20% from the scheduled level. Cuban sugar cultivation is up to 80% mechanised, and bad weather makes the operation of some equipment difficult. In addition, the rain itself can affect the quality of the sugar cane. The crop season runs from January to March, but in some cases it is extended until early May. Unofficial estimates place sugar production in Cuba at 800,000-900,000 tons in 2008. Cuba’s sugar industry has been struggling to recover since former president Fidel Castro scaled down production between 2002 and 2004, decommissioning several of Cuba’s most important sugar mills. In addition, in 2007 unfavourable weather conditions caused crop output to fall below expectations, forcing the Caribbean island to import sugar from Colombia and Brazil. (Global Insight Daily Analysis, 9/4/08)

April 9: Canadian tourists fleeing a harsh winter and buoyed by their strong dollar are flocking to Cuban beaches in record numbers and helping Cuba's tourist trade end a two-year slump. Cuban hotel managers said a surge in Canadian "snowbirds" led to unprecedented tourism during the winter months of January through March. And prospects for hotels during the summer improved when the government of Cuba's new President Raul Castro lifted a ban on Cubans staying at resort hotels formerly reserved for foreigners only. The tourist trade, a major source of hard currency for Cuba, peaked in 2005 with the arrival of 2.3 million visitors, but dropped to 2.1 million last year, of which some 600,00 were Canadians. But in January this year Cuba received more tourists than in any high season since it opened up to foreign investment and tourism in the mid-1990s: 247,386 visitors. Almost half were Canadians, a 30 percent increase over January last year. (Reuters, 9/4/08)

April 9: Citrus activity in Cuba will receive a new impulse with the investment in infrastructure for the sector. In Matanzas, the western part of the country will have a new facility of cooling with a storage capacity of half million tons of fruits and juices. Thus, the company Cítricos Victoria de Girón will have facilities for storing, cooling and shipping fresh citrus and juices coming from plantations in Jagüey Grande. It would have availability for receiving volumes from the firms Ceiba in La Habana and Arimao, in the central province of Cienfuegos. Cooling capacity increases and transport costs reduces since the distance between the facilities and the main points of departure to international markets is shorter. (Fresh Plaza, 9/4/08)

April 9: Cuba was the first country signing a trade agreement at the 18th International Fair of Vietnam, taking place at the Hanoi exhibition center, with 700 exhibitors from over 15 countries. The 3-million-dollar agreement was reached in biotechnology, for the sale of a batch of Heber Biotec vaccines to Vietnam's Hapharco. The signing ceremony was presided over by Vietnamese Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan, and Cuba's Deputy Foreign Trade Minister Nelly Cubillas, and Cuban ambassador Jesus Aise Sotolongo. (Prensa Latina, 9/4/08)

April 9: Cuba and its allies in Latin America opened the first branch of a development bank designed to break the region's dependence on the World Bank and other US-backed lenders. The bank is the financial arm of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA, a trade alliance funded by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his country's oil profits. Its other members are Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia, which are among the region's poorest nations. The ALBA bank will start with about $1 billion in assets and could offer up to twice that in loans and aid for development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, Venezuelan Finance Minister Rafael Isea said. The inaugural branch opened for business in communist Cuba in a fourth-floor office in the Miramar Trade Center, a gleaming, high-rise enclave of shops and business suites in one of Havana's most exclusive neighborhoods. "ALBA is filling a void (…) financing productive projects to give more employment and (serving as) an instrument to fight against poverty," said Cuban Central Bank President Francisco Soberon. (Business Week, 9/4/08)

April 10: The island's sugar minister, Ulises Rosales del Toro, told state radio that recent downpours could mean another lower-than-expected sugar harvest. The season runs from January to March but occasionally stretches into May. At the start of this season, Rosales said the island planned to process 12 percent more cane than the previous year, which yielded 1.2 million tons of sugar. The industry had expected up to 1.6 million tons of sugar in 2007 before inclement weather ruined that goal. To date, the island has produced between 800,000 and 900,000 tons of sugar, according to an estimate by Reuters news service. (Sun Sentinel, 10/4/08)

April 10: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said that his government has approved funding to build an iron and nickel foundry with Cuba. Cuba is among the world's largest producers of nickel, which is used to make stainless steel. Venezuela and Cuba signed an agreement last year to produce stainless steel using Cuban nickel — a project slated to involve some US$1.1 billion in joint investment. "We have large iron reserves, Cuba has large nickel reserves," Chavez said in a televised address, adding that Venezuela has not made the necessary alliances to process the metals domestically. Chavez did not say how much money it would take to build the foundry or where it would be located. (AP, 11/4/08)

April 11: Despite the existing restrictions placed by the US State Department on foreign companies operating in Cuba, AirBridgeCargo, a subsidiary of the Russian airline Volga-Dnepr, has joined a project for the creation of an international air hub in Cuba. Earlier, only those Russian corporations that were state-owned, such as Sheremetyevo International Airport and Aeroflot, participated in the project. Sheremetyevo is responsible for the creation of infrastructure, while Aeroflot is in charge of the passenger sector. (RBC Daily, 11/4/08)

April 11: Vietnamese and Cuban enterprises are seeking more business and investment co-operation, Vice Chairman of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), Doan Duy Khuong, said at a meeting of the Cuba-Viet Nam Entrepreneurial Committee in Hanoi. "With solid, traditional relations, bilateral trade and economic co-operation between two nations have developed stably," Khuong said. Last year, bilateral trade reached nearly US$300 million, an increase of 45 per cent over the previous year. Important commodities of trade include coal, rice, medicine, footwear, garments and textiles, computers, electronic products and household electric appliances. Bilateral trade is expected to reach $60 million in the first quarter of this year. "The full potential of co-operative relations, however, has yet to be realised," said Khuong. Companies in the two countries have found the great distance between them has been a handicap. The Vietnamese Government is committed to exporting 400,000 tonnes of rice to Cuba this year. It will also supply computer components, fans and light bulbs. Firms will also boost co-operation in the biotechnology area. Cuba’s Heber Biotec Co has signed a $2.5 million product-exchanging contract with local Ha Noi Pharmaceuticals Co. (Viet Nam News, 11/4/08)

April 11: Belize's Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Rene Montero and the Cuban Ambassador Eugenio Martinez visited Central Farm in the Cayo District of Belize, where they inspected a sugar cane plot multiplication unit, which involves thirty varieties of sugar cane. These are being tested under a greenhouse environment with all the agronomic practices that go with quarantine and plant health. The varieties come from five different countries, namely, Cuba, Barbados, India, Queensland and Brazil. These are going to be tested for smut resistance and sucrose content. After Belize officials are convinced that the varieties are suitable for the environment in Belize, they will be multiplied and distributed to farmers. This initiative is an effort between Cuba, who provided the planting materials and the two technicians, jointly with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Belize Sugar Industry Control Board. Montero and Martinez expressed the desire for further cooperation between the two countries and promised to continue finding new areas between Cuba and Belize to cooperate, especially in the areas of agriculture. (Caribbean News Net, 12/4/08)

April 11: Cuba will invest about 10 million dollars in three years for the rehabilitation of public lighting system in the country, the director of UNE National Electric Union of Cuba Antonio Pias announced. The objective is to install 182,000 new lights for the public lighting system in all the establishments where works of rehabilitation, normalization or new electrification are being carried out, the official specified in statements disclosed by Granma newspaper. Pias announced that about 7,100 lights are already distributed all around the provinces and they hope to complete by 2008 the fourth part of the needs in that area. (Granma, 11/4/08)

April 12: Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage said in the central city of Cienfuegos that national food programs are growing to confront price hikes on the world market. Cuba will invest this year one billion dollars more than in 2002 on food imports, assured Lage at the end of his tour of this province, where he attended the opening of a pasta factory.
To buy one ton of pasta from abroad costs 1200 dollars while home production costs 980, noted Lage at the opening ceremony of a modern plant with the highest technology and designed to produce 12,000 tons annually. The factory, built in one of the facilities of a sugar factory dismantled this present year, is part of a national program to increase domestic production from 20,000 to 70,000 tons in four years. The also secretary of the Ministers Councils Executive Committee visited a recently built plant that will produce 20 tons of CO2 daily, used to produce soft drinks. The revolution is going now through a process of construction, recovery and progress which nobody dreamt of 10 years ago, emphasized the leader. (Prensa Latina, 12/4/08)

April 12: The Colon Free Zone (ZLC) in Panama is one of the main sources of supplies for Cuba, whose transactions are expected to increase after the government’s decision to liberalize the sale of a wide range of home electrical appliances. “Cuba buys everything”, said a Customs official. Preliminary figures provided by the ZLC indicate that in 2007 Cuba purchased goods worth about $220 million dollars, an increase of 3.0 per cent from 2006, and of 24 per cent compared with 2005. (Notimex, 12/4/08)

April 13: Mexican touroperators work to reach the figure of 100 thousand visitors to Cuba during 2008, reported a release of the Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR) of the island. The website of MINTUR adds that the quantity chartered for the current year represents a considerable growth compared to 2007. The initiatives include offers related to Cuba’s attractions, such as its natural beauty, the hospitality of the people and diverse features of Havana and Varadero, classified as top ranking excellence. Other resorts such as Cayo Santa Maria, Cayo Coco and Cayo Largo would be promoted. (Prensa Latina, 13/4/08)

April 14: Communist Cuba is expanding sales of agricultural equipment to small farmers and looking at new ways for them to sell their goods. Orlando Lugo, president of the official National Association of Small Farmers, said growers island-wide can now buy formerly controlled production tools such as machetes, wire, boots and herbicide for a local weed called "marabu." The equipment went on sale in recent months at just three stores on the island. Lugo said on state television that the government is also examining new ways small farmers can commercialize goods. (AP, 15/4/08)

April 14: Cuba said it has saved more than $1 billion over two years and eliminated blackouts with its ''energy revolution'' that focuses on conservation and new power sources. Basic Industry Vice Minister Juan Manuel Presa said the savings occurred in 2006 and 2007, as the government replaced nine million regular light bulbs with energy-saving models and swapped 2.3 million old refrigerators for newer models. Presa spoke to the press during a gathering of the Petrocaribe regional energy group. (AP, 16/4/08)

April 14: Cuba achieved the first million tons of oil of the extraction plan expected for the first quarter this year, which means an increase in efficiency in the field. Director of Prospection of CUPET (Cuba Petroleo), Rafael Tenreyro, highlighted before national TV the importance of the figure due to the high price of crude of over $100 a barrel in world markets. He said that the country’s production forecast was achieved with enough volume to meet 50 percent of the domestic demand, as work was carried out using modern, efficient technologies also included in prospecting and drilling. Tenreyro announced that three new wells were drilled during the first quarter, with ongoing exploratory studies of land and sea, mainly seismic research, in northwestern Pinar del Rio province. (Prensa Latina, 14/4/08)

April 15: While hundreds of Cubans have been lining up to buy cellular phone services previously available only to foreigners and certain state workers, fewer are taking advantage of the lifting of the hotel ban. The end to what government critics have called tourism apartheid on the communist island came quietly after midnight on March 31.
The first two weeks of the lifting of the hotel ban generated about $378,000 for the state, according to a tourism official who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the foreign press. The two-week figure included 46 Cubans who spent $5,024 on hotel stays and eight who spent $1,763 on car rentals, the official said. Excursions generated $61,398 in revenue. "We believe more people will come with time," the official said. "It is still very early." (Sun Sentinel, 15/4/08)

April 15: Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras is studying the possibility of oil exploitation in Cuba, according to Director of International Operations Jorge Zelada. Zelada said that the studies are based on a cooperation agreement signed with the Cuban Oil Company (CUPET) at the beginning of 2008, when the Brazilian president was in Cuba. The study will look at areas in Cuban waters in the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf of Mexico waters are divided in equal parts between Cuba, the US and Mexico and some of the best quality oil in the world is pumped in this area by US and Mexican companies, which makes the Cuban part, almost untouched, a good prospective for good findings. (ACN, 15/4/08)

April 16: Cuba's minister of basic industry said plans by a consortium of companies to drill in Cuba's Gulf of Mexico waters this year have been rescheduled for 2009, according to the country's state-run media. "In the Gulf of Mexico we are doing seismic studies and our perspective is we should resume drilling in the area next year," Basic Industry Minister Yadira Garcia was quoted by the official Juventud Rebelde newspaper as stating. Garcia said last year that drilling by a consortium led by Repsol-YPF of Spain would begin in 2008, if a rig could be rented. Interest in Cuba's Gulf of Mexico blocks picked up after Repsol discovered a small deposit of light oil in 2004 that was not commercially viable. Repsol has since joined forces with Norsk Hydro and ONGC Videsh of India. Seven foreign companies have signed exploration agreements with Cuban state oil company CUPET for 28 of the 59 blocks available in the deep Gulf of Mexico waters of Cuba's economic exclusion zone fronting the United States. (Reuters, 16/4/08)

April 17: South Africa's Cabinet agreed to cancel 926.8 million rand ($117 million) owed to it by Cuba because the country was unable to repay the debt. ``This debt arose out of the insurance cover which was provided to Cuba by the Export Credit Insurance Corp. of South Africa Ltd. for the export of diesel engines and pesticides in 1996,'' government spokesman Themba Maseko told reporters in Pretoria, following the Cabinet's bi-monthly meeting. ``Given the assessment of Cuba's debt position, government is of the view that Cuba was not in a position to meet its obligation in the foreseeable future,'' Maseko said. (Bloomberg, 17/4/08)

April 17: The Ghana-Cuba historical bond of friendship was taken to a new level following the signing of a Permanent Joint Commission Cooperation in Accra. The Joint Commission covered broad areas of cooperation including education and sports, health, trade and investment, tourism, scientific and industrial research as well as initiative for the private sector. Ghana's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and NEPAD, Akwesi Osei Adjei initialed for Ghana while the Cuban Senior Minister of Government, Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz signed for his country. Under the agreement, 200 Cuban specialists including professors and technicians would be sent to the School of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University for Development Studies, Tamale, to give lectures in human anatomy; biochemistry; biochemical medicine and histology; as well as institute the new doctors’ training programme in Ghana. Concerning agriculture, Ghana would assist Union Confitera of Cuba to become members of the Federation of Cocoa Commerce, UK, to enable Cuba to purchase cocoa from the Cocoa Marketing Company. To this end, the two sides have agreed to implement the training in Cuba of personnel from the Cocoa Processing Company in the manufacture of Artesanal chocolate.(ModernGhana,19/4/08)

April 18: Cuba has begun clearing sickle bush from thousands of hectares of rice land as soaring prices force it to reconsider importing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of the population's main staple, local media reported. "The Ruta Invasora rice farm is working to recover a large part of its land largely covered with Marabu (sickle bush) and other brush," Camaguey province's weekly Communist party newspaper reported. Before the collapse of former-benefactor the Soviet Union, Cuba's nine provincial rice farms, covering 150,000 hectares, produced up to 260,000 tonnes of consumable rice. Decapitalization, plague and drought followed. Last year the farms produced around 70,000 tonnes while dry-land rice farms at the municipal level and private producers added another 150,000 tonnes to output. In recent years, Cuba has imported more than 500,000 tonnes of rice annually, mainly from Vietnam. "The price of a tonne of rice has gone from $223 in 2002 to $855 this year," Igor Montero, the vice president of state-food importer Alimport, said on national television. The price and availability of rice is a politically volatile issue in Cuba, with the government subsidizing the cost through a ration system. Rice is the Caribbean island's most important staple, with minimum domestic consumption estimated at 700,000 tonnes annually. (Reuters, 18/4/08)

April 18: The engines currently operating in the trucks that circulate in Cuba, with their high levels of gas consumption, will be replaced with more modern and efficient engines from China, said Vice President Carlos Lage during a visit to the workshops of the Shaping Company of Guanajay. Lage told workers and managers of that company, which is engaged in the engine replacement, that the first 12,000 engines purchased for that purpose are already in Cuba. Lage’s tour around business facilities in the province of Havana included the Evelio Prieto bus assembly plant, also in Guanajay. There, he disclosed the purchase of 5,000 Chinese buses that will arrive in Cuba in the next 4 to 5 years. Some of them –around 600 to 800– will be assembled in this plant under the supervision of Chinese technicians assisted by our experienced workers. On his visit to the liquid feed plant in Artemisa, Lage said that the investments aimed at increasing pig food production and at avoiding damage to the environment should have priority. He highlighted the importance of using the leftovers from food consumption in major social centers and of using, at the same time, less imported products, such as soy. (Granma, 21/4/08)

April 19: Cuba is spending $2 billion to upgrade public transportation and has imported 3,000 modern buses just for the capital. The Chinese buses Yutongs are less sturdy than the “camellos” (camels) and crews are repaving streets to spare them wear and tear. The camellos, hulking 18-wheeled beasts, iron mutants made of two Soviet-era buses welded together on a flatbed and pulled by a separate cab, have long been Havana's public transport nightmare — bumpy, hot and jammed with up to 400 passengers at a time. The Yutongs’ fares are double the camello's but offer far more seats and a dramatically smoother ride. Riders can climb on and off easily, ensuring faster trips. The camello was born in response to fuel shortages in the early 1990s, when the Soviet Union collapsed and Cuba lost its annual $6 billion in subsidies. The economy has since recovered thanks to heavy borrowing from China and nearly 100,000 barrels of oil a day from Venezuela. (AP, 19/4/08)

April 19: Business people from several countries show increasing interest in participating in the EXPOCARIBE Business Fair to take place in Santiago de Cuba in June, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the second largest business event in Cuba. Traditional participants include nations like Spain, Panama, Germany, Guatemala, Holland, Italy, Viet Nam, Venezuela, Belgium and others. The President of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce Raul Becerra predicted a promising success of the fair on this occasion, with an attractive performance of artistic talents from the eastern provinces. (Prensa Latina, 19/4/08)

April 19: Cuban Fishing Industry Minister Alfredo Lopez said that the island is working at setting up a joint venture with close ally Venezuela in order to "revive the deep-sea fishing industry" and overcome the "insufficient supply" of fish in the country, local media reported. Lopez said that Cuba is currently developing two strategies to solve the problem of a lack of seafood products, and the first is "to revive the deep-sea fishing industry, but in this case together with Venezuela." Last December, during Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's visit to the communist-ruled island for the 4th Petrocaribe Summit, the two countries signed 14 accords, including three for the constitution of new mixed companies - chemicals and petrochemicals; agriculture and food distribution; and fishing. "We are working to constitute a mixed company that will have the chance to use the experience our people have," the state news agency Prensa Latina quoted the minister as saying. As a second strategy, Lopez mentioned the development of fish farming, which in 2007 closed with a production record of more than 22,000 tons of species like lobsters, shrimp, tilapia, catfish and grass carp. He also said that last year the island invested more than $30 million in imports while collecting $90 million from lobster exports alone.
In 2006 the countries of the European Union, one of the chief markets for this kind of exports, bought more than 5,000 tons of seafood products from Cuba, including 1,400 of farmed shrimp and some 1,200 of wild shrimp. (EFE, AFP, 20/4/08)

April 22: The Government of Ghana and the Republic of Cuba held the XIV Session of the Permanent Inter-governmental Commission in Accra. This was in accordance with Article 1 of the Agreement for Scientific, Technical and Economic Cooperation, signed between both Governments in the city of Havana, on 17th April 1982. Based on the proposals on possible areas of cooperation, both countries reviewed the progress of their cooperation, and noted with satisfaction the results of such a collaboration, especially in the area of health, education and sports. They further approved the programme for the Scientific, Technical and Economic Cooperation for the period 2008 to 2010. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and Nepad, Akwasi Osei Adjei, expressed optimism that with diligent implementation of the decision taken by the two countries, they will witness a positive growth in both their public and private sector activities. (Ghanaian Chronicle, 22/4/08)

April 23: Cuba's exports of goods grew some 27 percent last year, compared to 2006, state media reported, citing Foreign Trade Minister Raul de la Nuez but not providing the complete figures. The minister said at an awards ceremony for export firms that exports of goods last year were the highest in the past 27 years. The increase was due largely to exports of nickel, whose price has risen sharply on the international market, and sales of generic medicines and biotechnology products. (EFE, 24/4/08)

April 23: Representatives from the Cuban and Brazilian Institutes of Scientific and Technological Information (IDICT) will sign a cooperation agreement in Havana. Carmen Sanchez Rojas, Director of the Cuban IDICT, announced that she will sign the accord with her Brazilian counterpart, Emir Suadien, during the last day of sessions of the INFO 2008 Congress that is underway at the Convention Center in Havana with the participation of experts from 15 countries. She explained that during her visit to Brasilia last November, the two institutions decided to implement actions of mutual exchange and cooperation that will be included in the agreement. This accord will be the first of its type between the two centers and it will include professional training and transference of technologies. (ACN, 23/4/08)

April 23: In Cuba, analysts say that Cuban ethanol production will be limited to production from sugar by-product that does not affect the food sugar output. A Reuters report, quoting local sources, said it would be unthinkable for Raul Castro to increase ethanol production from food sugar, given Fidel Castro’s characterization of the practice as a “crime against humanity”. But it was not clear how Cuba would finance the conversion of its ethanol capacity to making cellulosic ethanol from bagasse. Currently, Cuba imports 85 percent of its food, and other analysts say that the intergrated product stream from revived ethanol production — including sugar, ethanol, paper, cattle feed — could revive Cuban agriculture in a country where former sugar plantations have been overrun by weed infestations.A Biofuels Digest news analysis was published on April 18 on the Castro regime’s secret buildup of sugar ethanol production capacity, while calling biofuels a “crime against humanity” in public comments. The potential for Cuba to produce between 2 billion and 3.2 billion gallons per year of sugar cane ethanol has been projected by industry analysts. (Biofuels Digest, 23/4/08)

April 23: President Hugo Chavez joined with his allies to create a $100 million program to fight the rising cost of food for Latin America's poor. Chavez and leaders from Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua also promised joint programs for agricultural development in addition to the new Food Security Fund, though they provided no details on how the programs and fund would work. ''This food crisis is the biggest demonstration of the historic failure of the capitalist model,'' Chavez told Bolivian President Evo Morales, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage during a summit in Caracas. Addressing participants at the meeting, the Cuban Vice-president addressed the impact of the food price hike on large sectors of the population.  Industrialized nations destine nearly 10 percent of their resources to purchasing food, while the poor and underdeveloped countries dedicate as much as 65 percent to that activity, said Carlos Lage. Therefore, he said, the poor nations can not face the current scenario. The current crisis finds its origin in the unfair international economic order, in which developed powers dedicate huge budgets to prepare and launch wars, said the Cuban Vice-president and in that direction he pointed to the United States, which destines some 500 billion dollars annually to that objective. Add to that the irresponsible management of the US economy, now under recession, he said. Cuba imports most of its food -- much of it coming from the United States. Cuba expects to spend $1.9 billion on food imports in 2008 -- about 20 percent more than last year. (AP, ACN, 23/4/08)

April 24: Cuba and Qatar have signed agreements to enhance tourism and health cooperation, according to a statement published by the Cuban Tourism Ministry. Under the accords, a hotel jointly owned by Cuba's Gran Caribe Hotel Group and Qatar's Diar Real Estate Investment will open and a new general hospital involving Cuban specialists will be built at Dukhan city, some 80 km west of Qatar's capital Doha. The ministry said the two nations signed the accords in Doha during the recent fourth session of the inter-governmental commission. (Xinhua, 24/4/08)

April 27: Cuba said it could not afford to increase wages for government workers, but it would raise social security payments. About 90 percent of the Cuban economy is controlled by the state, which employs the vast majority of people and provides all pensions through the social security system. May 1, International Workers Day, is a major holiday in Communist Cuba and expectations were high among health and education employees that state wages would be increased to mark the date. The expectations were fueled by an announcement in local media this month, which said Cuba was revamping the state wage system to create more incentive by allowing workers to earn as much as they can. But a government statement published by all state media made it clear that some wage earners would have to wait for better economic times. "It is not possible right now to increase salaries of all sectors, because the country does not have the resources necessary," the statement said. "Increases will be granted by sector and priority, always after a rigorous evaluation of the economic and financial conditions." However, judges, court personnel and employees in the district attorney offices will receive raises, the statement said. Raul Castro, upon taking over as leader from his ailing brother Fidel Castro in February, promised to make wages better reflect one's work, a major complaint of the population. (Reuters, 27/4/08)

April 28: A staggering 12 percent rise in the number of tourists arriving in the eastern city of Holguin was achieved during the recently concluded winter season, compared to the same period in 2007, breaking historical records. Carlos Zambrano, Tourism delegate to the eastern region, said that in the period between November 2007 and March 2008, more than 93,150 visitors, mostly from Canada and England, landed in this part of the country, attracted not only by its beaches but also by the history and culture of the province. The 2005 local record of visitors and tourist-per-day rates in the province were broken by the end of March, where a total of 4,830 rooms are currently available, noted Zambrano. During the winter season, an average of fifty flights a week landed at Holguin's Frank Pais International Airport, said the expert. (CAN, 28/4/08)

April 30: Cuba announced that its crucial tourism industry appears to be recovering from a two-year slump, with a 15 percent increase in visitors during the first quarter of the year. The number of international visitors topped the 1 million mark on April 28, 22 days faster than last year, state-controlled news media reported. Officials credited well-attended conferences and trade fairs for the increase, singling out an ongoing gathering dedicated to cultural tourism that has attracted more than 1,000 visitors. Maria Elena Lopez, a vice minister of tourism, reported a 15 percent increase in foreign visitors this year compared with the first three months of 2007, but she did not provide further data, according to the Communist Party daily Granma. The number of foreign tourists peaked at about 2.32 million in 2005, but slipped to 2.15 last year, according to official statistics. Officials said the decline of 70,000 visitors in 2007 cut revenues by nearly US$14.5 million (euro9.3 million) below 2006 levels -- a blow to a nation that has turned to tourism to generate much of its hard currency revenue. Canada, Britain, Spain and Italy rank as top sources of visitors to the island. (AP, 30/4/08)

April 30: Cuban President Raul Castro and visiting Panamanian President Martin Torrijos signed an energy cooperation agreement, local media reported. The agreement was signed during a ceremony at the Revolution Palace in Havana. The agreement aims to expand bilateral cooperation and exchanges in the rational and efficient use of energy, the use of renewable energy for promoting economic development, environmental protection and social equity. "We thank this project for keeping alive the solidary memory and spirit, for what represented Omar Torrijos (former Panamanian president), for the brotherhood between Cuba and Panama and between the Latin Americans," Torrijos said. The two countries also signed energy, fishing and other cooperative agreements. Cuba and Venezuela have already provided free eye operations to poor people across the region, including 20,000 Panamanians, through a program known as ''Operation Miracle,'' Torrijos said. (Xinhua, The Miami Herald, 1/5/08)

April 30: Qatar Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, was to meet President Raul Castro to discuss plans to build hotels in Cuba and for a new Qatari hospital to be staffed by Cuban doctors. The talks came after the two countries "signed important agreements on cooperation in the areas of health and tourism, among others," said a brief notice published in the official daily Granma. Under one accord, a new general hospital to be entirely staffed by Cuban specialists is to open in the Qatari town of Dukhan, 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Doha, the Cuban foreign ministry said. The other agreement sets out the creation of the first joint venture between Grupo Hotelero Wider Caribbean, Cuba, and Qatari Diar to build hotels on the communist-ruled Caribbean island. (AFP, 30/4/08)