Malmierca highlighted that the event, to be held from November 14 to 18 at the Expocuba fairgrounds, will be attended by top-level delegations chaired by ministers and high-ranking government officials.

Similarly, the headline highlighted the presence of representatives of some 30 chambers of commerce of nations with which Cuba has commercial ties, as well as hundreds of companies from the five continents.

The minister explained that together with usual nations such as Spain, Italy, Russia, China, France, Mexico, Brazil and Venezuela, a high-level delegation from the United Arab Emirates will arrive at the event for the first time.

This confirms that despite the blockade of the United States, the economic difficulties that our country is facing and the situation of international economic crisis derived from the Covid-19 pandemic, the world trusts the Cuban market, Malmierca emphasized.

Likewise, as part of the official program of the event, the minister highlighted the materialization of the V Business Forum dedicated to foreign investment issues.

We are going to announce the updating of the portfolio of business opportunities with foreign capital, he stressed.

Fihav 2022 will also develop panels aimed at offering details about the Mariel Special Development Zone and the benefits of the single window for foreign investment, he said.
The minister explained that the event’s agenda will host exchanges with business production centers and agencies and will place special emphasis on foreign investment opportunities for Cubans residing abroad.

Our expectations are that FIHAV 2022 contributes to the insertion of the national economy in the international context, and promotes direct business between Cuban and foreign companies, Malmierca said.

For his part, the president of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce, Antonio Luis Carricarte, said that the island has 189 participants registered for the event with the presence, for the first time, of micro, small and medium-sized companies and cooperatives linked in some way. way to external activity.

Priority sectors of economic activity will be present, such as food, agriculture, light industry, health linked to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, education, transportation and renewable energy, Carricarte emphasized.

Meanwhile, the general director of the Palco Business Group, Eduardo Correa, pointed out that since last July the preparation phase for Fihav 2022 began at the Expocuba fairgrounds.

(With information from PL)

The provincial command posts begin to receive the reports of the audit groups assigned to each entity, where they were received by their administrations, union and political organizations, with the certainty that this action will make them more efficient and will contribute to the development of the country.

The Comptroller General of the Republic Gladys Bejerano Portela recognized the dedicated work of the auditors and all the members of the national auditing system, and the social recognition they deserve when facing the current economic and energy challenges that the country is experiencing, as a single team, in the effort to contribute to the improvement of the socialist state enterprise.

During this National Verification, which must conclude on October 31, compliance audits will be carried out on the sample of selected entities. The true auditor is like a teacher teaching how to make each company better, she emphasized.

The Vice Comptroller General Darlam Dalmau Palomino, who coordinates the execution of the CNCI with a process approach, clarified that the provincial Comptrollers may decide the evaluation in the audits of the complementary issues that are necessary, including, on a mandatory basis, that linked to the control and use of the fuel.

The period to be audited will be the first half of the year and the findings of alleged criminal acts or other significant acts will be reported immediately to the provincial command post, who will guide the steps to follow.

The priority topic of the audits will be to control compliance with the 43 regulations approved for the Cuban state business system, the management of companies that produce goods and services for export, as well as import substitution, the general indications to verify the liquidity allocations, the use of fuel and the use of transportation, among other issues.

The audit groups may request the provincial command posts, according to their initial evaluations, the simultaneous execution of complementary topics, which deal with:
Economic contracting processes; The status of accounts receivable and payable, their documentation and reliability; Control of payroll payment in accordance with the scales, rates and payment systems approved for workers; The control and use of inventories; Transport operation license, road safety and consignment note; The optional topics of cash on hand and bank; tangible fixed assets; control of investment processes; the organizational movements of entities, and the delivery and reception of charges.

The audit groups in the Superior Organizations of Business Management (OSDE) must summarize the results of the audits in their companies as of October 20 and the companies will previously summarize those corresponding to their Base Business Units (UEB) on the same date, with a view to being able to summarize everything at the national command post and have the report ready to be presented to the Government.

Bejerano Portela insisted that the final report of each audit to the Board of Directors of the entity and to the workers’ assembly must be done with the transparency that characterizes this process, and promote debate with the workers with the supreme interest of improving the state company. socialist, without which we will not be able to advance in national development for the benefit of the population.

If something is not fulfilled or there are losses, it is important to know why, analyze what has been done to resolve that situation and where are the problems that hinder its fulfillment, it must be said and discussed constructively as revolutionaries, he stressed.

In the last meeting prior to the start of the CNCI, connected by videoconference with all the Provincial Comptroller’s Offices and the Isle of Youth, the main directors of the National Comptroller’s Office participated, the Hero of the Republic Ramón Labañino, representing the National Association of Economists and Accountants from Cuba, main directors of the Union of Jurists, the Central de Trabajadores, the National Offices for Labor Standardization and Inspection and other organizations participating in this control action.

(Taken from the Comptroller General of the Republic)

When in 2021 Dofleini Software became the first official Cuban MSME, its managers had the expectation of increasing the exports that they began under the umbrella of self-employment. Today, although every month they report sales and have accessed the Canadian, English, Spanish markets and “sometimes someone else joins in”, the aim is to make the process “as agile as possible”, without unnecessary mediators.

This project, which offers the “specialized software development service in different areas”, was one of the first within the new technology sector to export, after this possibility was approved in 2020 for private forms of management, through state entities.

Always with Desoft as mediator, since that year Dofleini Software has been exporting “consecutively every month”. Its leader, Carlos Miguel Pérez Reyes, tells how this experience has been in an activity considered essential for the recovery of the country’s economy.

Sitting in his office, the young computer scientist explains that until now they have only agreed with Desoft, even though the MSME is incubated in the Havana Scientific and Technological Park, which also has facilities to carry out foreign trade activities, and that there are other authorized companies. , including Softel, Solintel and Citmatel.

“Dofleini has brought all of his clients to the table. Desoft does not put the market. We manage 100% of our clients, we know who they are and what they want. Once everything is well matured, we present it to Desoft”, comments Carlos and regrets that in this process of formalities they have lost potential clients.

The paperwork “sometimes takes between two and three months”, because “the company that intends to hire your services must show if it has the money to pay, if its bank can transfer the money to Cuba and if it is of Cuban origin, meet other special characteristics. ”.

The leader of this MSME of six partners and 51 workers considers that Desoft certainly allowed them to “engage” with the existing mechanisms in the country for foreign trade, in which they had no experience.

“For example, when you are a new client, you must register with Mincex, and you also work with international courts for conflict resolution, in accounts receivable… Desoft has more experience in this, but we think that the processes could be more efficient. , using technology. So that the contracting is 100% digital and takes place in one day, without mediating the classic signatures on a page”.

Above all, Carlos insists, because in programming and computer activities there is a very competitive market at an international level, and “if there is a slight obstacle that prevents either payment – ​​one of our big problems due to the blockade – or efficient contracting , the client leaves and looks for another company”.

ely to foreign trade activity. Its corporate purpose is not to make our path to foreign trade easier. They have to make software for Cuba and export their own products and services, and also deal with all their contracts.

“The fact that they have to take over a piece of someone’s work, I see it badly in several directions. The first, they are our competitors; the second, we are putting the socialist state company at risk, which is showing its face to the world to represent a form of management that it could not even know; and the third is that it is playing the role of judge and party, making decisions based on its own interests, and not based on the interests of the exporter”.

In addition, he adds, these large state-owned companies have complex work mechanisms: thousands of contracts, hiring committees, business groups… “This slows down the processes, unlike small companies, whether private or state-owned.”

The Government announced that state microenterprises specialized in providing import and export services to non-state management forms would be approved. Carlos points out that up to now there is no MSME dedicated to foreign trade, at least in programming and computing activities, and considers that, although this route can improve the current situation, in the case of software development, direct export would be more convenient.

In his opinion, other barriers to exports are built from the standards themselves. “The regulations are designed to export tangible goods, things that can be assembled in a box. But there are other activities, like ours (computer specialists, designers, social networks) that move away from these traditional rules. For example, the procedures are not intended to export short-term IT services”.

For each service that Dofleini exports, 20% of the payment is received in Cuban pesos, at the official rate of 1 USD x 24 CUP. Of the remaining 80%, Desoft charges a 3% commission.

In the Round Table this Monday it was announced that certain non-state economic actors will be authorized to directly carry out foreign trade activities under the control of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment. “We are evaluating starting with the entities that export computer services,” said the first deputy minister of that body.

If this state mediation were eliminated, how would they develop the foreign trade activity? “The first thing would be the export of our products and services through digital platforms. A completely online service, as agile as possible, at the level of the first world. In fact, this platform is already prepared.

“We would do it with total transparency, in terms of taxes, income and number of clients, and always in accordance with what is established in the country,” says Carlos.

However, he considers it valid to maintain the option that a specialized state company can represent the interests of non-state forms, which exists in other countries. “We understand that certain self-employed workers or small companies, who have not had much experience in exporting services, may see these mediating companies as an important alliance.”

Obtaining and increasing foreign currency is an urgency for the country; remove obstacles and streamline processes, a necessity, even more so when entering the international market from Cuba is not an easy task. “Our infrastructure does not have the same level of development as that of other companies in the world and accessing certain financing is complex.

“But it can be achieved, we have shown it,” says the leader of Dofleini, whose efforts are also dedicated to the digital transformation of Cuban society, with total certainty. They work in more than 30 companies on the creation of systems that are disruptive, that is, that change the way technology is used in order to be more efficient.

(By: Lissett Izquierdo Ferrer, Abel Padrón Padilla, Ana Álvarez Guerrero, Cubadebate)

First Vice Minister of Foreign Trade: Why take these measures?

At the beginning of the television space, the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade, Ana Teresita González Fraga, stressed that the announced measures should not be viewed independently or in isolation, but rather are decisions that will lead Cuba to recover from the complex economic situation it is facing. the country and progress progressively.

González Fraga referred to the foreign exchange restrictions in which state entities with commercial activities operate, which has caused a shortage in the internal market of goods highly demanded by the population and by non-state actors. It has also caused the development of spontaneous and informal forms in the supply chains, which influence the increase in prices.

“The country has been adopting a group of measures to deal with this situation, such as, for example, increasing the use of consignments and, to a lesser extent, the sale of goods under the customs warehouse regime, since they are ways to have goods in the country”, he stressed.

The deputy minister pointed out that state companies have also been created to provide foreign trade services, under the legislation issued in relation to MSMEs, which have “more flexible provisions in their operation than the rest of the state companies that today do foreign trade.

These state MSMEs – she explained – have specialized to offer foreign trade services to non-state management forms. The establishment of foreign investment modalities in wholesale trade has also been promoted. Two have already been constituted and there are others in negotiations.

“The actions have been insufficient to stop the complex economic situation that the country has today. The situation of shortages in the domestic market continues and the expected impact on the development of wholesale trade has not been achieved”, she acknowledged.

González Fraga asserted that they have not taken advantage of the benefits that the participation of foreign investment could bring today in the development of trade, such as, for example, in terms of access to supply markets, in attracting financing, equipment, methods of administration, or the use of innovative techniques for logistics management.

“The exchange scheme should contribute to some extent to the development of wholesale and retail trade,” she said.

In detail, the new provisions

Based on these evaluations, he specified, several measures have been adopted that will be reported below.

Firstly, it has been decided to promote the development of businesses throughout the country in order to promote wholesale trade through foreign investment.

“It is important to know that foreign investment, until today, we have basically used to produce goods and services, and today we are proposing that foreign investment entities be created to market in the wholesale market.”

Another approved measure is to selectively promote the creation of joint ventures under the foreign investment law to carry out retail trade activities, which will allow greater efficiency in this area of ​​commerce.

It was also approved to promote that these foreign investment businesses be used, fundamentally, for the sale of raw materials, supplies, equipment and other goods that can contribute to promoting the development of national production.

In addition, to the supply of finished goods such as food products, cleaning and economic line and installation of electricity generation systems with renewable energy sources.

“We want these measures to have an immediate impact on shortage problems and help improve offers in stores in MLC and in national currency,” said the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade.

Another of the approved measures is to encourage these entities to pre-finance national producers who have the conditions to become suppliers. “We are talking about the fact that today we have installed capacities in the country that, due to lack of financing, cannot produce goods.

“What is sought is to pre-finance these national producers so that, in time, they deliver the finished goods to the foreign investment modalities, and these, in turn, market them in the national market to contribute to a greater supply in the national market,” he explained.

The foreign investment modalities themselves – specified the deputy minister – can also sell and wholesale these products.

Another of the measures is to apply to these entities a differentiated financial scheme that allows guaranteeing the stability of the supply chain.

“This scheme must include the authorization to make sales in MLC,” he said, adding that the liquidity that the country obtains from taxes and other income associated with these businesses, will be used to stimulate national production, support imports of economic line products and market them to the population in Cuban pesos.

González Fraga reported that the other approved measure is to facilitate foreign investment modalities established in the country for the provision of goods and services to sell in the wholesale trade segment, including non-state management forms, NGOs, embassies, representations companies and branches in Cuba.

“These are decisions that substantially modify the role that has been given to foreign investment in internal trade, and that will be accompanied by adequate control and monitoring mechanisms to guarantee that these measures are effective.”

The Vice Minister of Foreign Trade pointed out that the approval of these businesses will be carried out by the competent authority, for which it must be ensured that they are in correspondence with the objectives for which they were approved.

Díaz Velázquez: The commerce sector also needs foreign investment
Betsy Díaz Velázquez, Minister of Internal Trade, pointed out that, since the design of the economic strategy, trade has been at the center of it, focused on measures that allow resolving the complex situation in supply and taking into account the difficult context international, the logistics crisis and the effects generated by the economic blockade against Cuba.

“Trade has not really been a prioritized sector in the field of foreign investment, because the main projects have been aimed at the production of goods and services,” she said.

However, she specified, every year a policy that was born with limitations has been updated, but has been enriched and in which we have been finding other opportunities.

“Foreign investment does not escape the strategy of the trade sector, including the attraction of capital and the capture of new technologies, as well as the incorporation of management and marketing methods.

“We could consider that we know what the Cuban market demands and this is not exactly the case, because we see that today we have diverse cultures, so we also have to acquire marketing studies from foreign investment that allow us, once we have access to goods and services, bringing what is really attractive to the Cuban population,” he explained.

The trade sector also needs foreign investment, she stressed, Díaz Velázquez, and considered that based on the decisions adopted, it is an opportunity that carries a very high responsibility so that it has the immediate result that the population expects.

“That is to say, that the effect of the measure, which has to start with sales in MLC, has an effect in increasing the offers in CUP and, with it, counteracting the excessive increase in prices and stabilizing the offer, which is one of the greatest difficulties that we present today”, he pointed out.

The minister gave the example of the Gran Comercial company, which was granted the import and export facility in December 2021.

“It is a company that recently has this faculty. We have been incorporating tasks with the dynamics and commitment to show that it is possible to do wholesale trade in Cuba. It has incorporated the consignment, today with a contract for hairdressing and beauty products, but there are other ongoing contracts related to supplies and household items, hardware items and other office supplies.”

Regarding this last line, she said that although this company previously had the purchasing concentration for the Cuban business system and has experience in that sector, now it ventures into modalities that it did not work before.

Today it has more than 900 contracts with non-state forms, both self-employed workers and non-agricultural cooperatives, MSMEs and others. It was one of the companies that was incorporated into those that could import non-state forms of management.

“The result of these operations in MLC has not stopped being sold in Cuban pesos, so it is an example that the result of this measure can be achieved,” Díaz Velázquez stressed.

The minister referred to another established company, Logística Hotelera del Caribe, which provides services mainly to the tourism sector, “but today we are evaluating whether it can participate in the full scope of the measures we are proposing.”

Retail trade may be carried out through joint ventures
What are the opportunities we have today in the Cuban market to do wholesale and retail trade with foreign investment? In this regard, the minister mentioned some data:

The country has a network of more than 27,000 warehouses throughout the economy, 1,905 of them in the commerce sector, and of these, 478 refrigerators, which allow the supply chain to be completed without breaking the cold chain.

There is a network of retail units – which excludes warehouses, program stores and the chain store network – that exceeds 2,000 units.
“This is an infrastructure that is currently underutilized and deteriorated by shortages, where, although alternatives such as installment sales, retail houses and others have been incorporated, there is still a usable space to incorporate these decisions adopted,” she explained.

The minister commented that there has always been an aspiration for other actors to participate in wholesale trade.

“Today the non-state forms, the mipymes, are doing wholesale trade. A group of them have recently been approved that today show us the different ways of doing things, with a flexible, small structure, so we consider that we are at the right time for the decisions adopted”.

What policy did the commerce sector have? On this point, Díaz Velázquez pointed out that it was aimed at developing wholesale trade and, exceptionally, retail trade with foreign investment, with the aim of attracting financial resources, advanced management methods, technologies and marketing techniques.

In this context, where do the decisions adopted go? The minister explained that they are aimed at:

Eliminate the exceptional nature of the participation of foreign investment in retail trade. Today is not exceptional, but it is not completely open either. “A state market has to prevail and today we defend social programs that we serve, so it will not be an open retail business, but neither will it be restrictive as it was established up to now.”
In wholesale trade, the fundamental modalities that had been applied to date, of the three provided for in the Foreign Investment Law, were joint ventures and international economic association contracts, with a common fund or by service.

“Today we are saying that we can also evaluate whether there is a participation of totally foreign capital companies in wholesale trade. Of course, with the criterion that it be a company that contributes to the objectives that we have set for ourselves.

“We are defending that this wholesale trade is a supplier of raw materials, equipment, inputs, technology to incorporate renewable energies; that is, a provider that promotes and stimulates the non-state and state sectors. We are talking about a wholesale market that allows us to have raw materials in the country and, of course, a productive development in less time than we have today due to the limitations and the international logistics crisis”.

Therefore -he said-, “all the businesses that we design, evaluate, which will not only be in our trade sector, but also in everyone who does wholesale and retail trade, will have as a premise that we have to promote national production and achieve the true productive chains, which can start from pre-financing or from certain inputs that are guaranteed to all economic actors in the country, and that end in an offer of goods and services to the population”.

In summary, he added, “wholesale trade can be accessed with foreign investment in the form of joint ventures and in international economic association contracts, both with common funds and for the provision of services.

“We will also evaluate (as long as the objectives of the proposal are in correspondence with the objectives that we have set ourselves) companies with totally foreign capital. This had not been seen that way, because it was a restrictive policy.”

Regarding the impact on the retail trade, he pointed out that this would be the main source, “because if there is a source of fundamental raw materials, we can develop a retail trade with foreign investment, a participation that allows us to have that income and taxes that would be the source to finance the country’s imports, which are significant and which we cannot give up.”

Today -continued the Minister of Internal Trade-, “there is no way to substitute, for example, the wheat that is imported, we will always have to import it, but we have to finance national productions such as rice, beans and other products, to stop rely somewhat on imports in the food sector and other industries such as construction materials.

“That we really have the necessary chain, that it be a chain that generates the supply of goods to be national products or imported products with the results of these modalities.”

Díaz Velázquez specified that work is already being done on the business models sought, both wholesale and retail.

“We will not be closed, but evaluating, but we must have lines, principles, because there is an objective: immediately put on the market an offer of goods and services that reverses the complex situation that the country has.

“There are designs made, we are concluding them and all the entities and organizations that currently carry out wholesale and retail trade in the country will participate with us, it is not limited to the commerce sector.”

She added that as part of this process, Cuban parties that can participate will be selected, and specified that there is information on this subject on the institutional website of the Mincin.

Currently, “work is being done on the evaluation of all the joint ventures that currently exist in the country, all the joint ventures that may have scope in wholesale trade.

“We have a look at all the provinces of the country and the objective is also to get mipymes to do wholesale trade in the center and east of the country. There may be a mixed company that is not necessarily in the West, with the capacity to do wholesale trade and that is incorporated into these measures, ”she pointed out.

“We are going to prioritize and offer these business proposals to companies that have remained in the country,” she said.

“In these difficult times, there are companies that have been in Cuba for many years, that have accompanied us, that have understood the situation that the country is going through, that today have representations or branches and that will be the first that we would be able to listen to. and advance entrepreneurially so that businesses can be established”.

He stressed that both the Mincex and the Mincin have a high responsibility in the state control of what is believed. “The objective that is proposed in this business has to be met,” he stressed.

He reiterated that the purpose is “to achieve stable supplies in the country, to have an offer of goods and services of essential products such as food, cleaning, household items, clothing, footwear, but all of this, when you look at a business, will have due follow-up, because it also has to have the result we expect, which is to be able to sell CUPs to the population.

He added that a survey of the entire trade network is being carried out, of the establishments that can be incorporated into the measure and reiterated that it will not be limited to domestic trade, but will be extended to all entities that carry out wholesale and retail trade.

“We confirm that this is not an isolated measure, it is part of a set of measures adopted and announced in the National Assembly by the Minister of Economy. It is a measure with constitutional backing, attached to the laws, which seeks results that are reversed in the short term to the benefit of the supply of goods and services to the population in Cuban pesos”, he concluded.

Later, the Minister of Internal Trade clarified that in the field of wholesale trade there could be three forms of investment: international economic associations, companies with 100% foreign capital and joint ventures. In the case of retail, it will be exclusively for joint ventures.

“The flexibility is that it was restricted and that today it is open for mixed companies. We are going to prioritize a group of countries and partners that have been with us all along. It’s going to be a trade that’s not restrictive, but it’s not open. What has been completely opened up is in wholesale trade”.

She indicated that joint ventures and international economic association contracts will continue to be prioritized. Totally foreign capital companies will be evaluated “when their objectives respond to the principles and what is being sought”.

Certain non-state economic actors will carry out foreign trade directly
Ana Teresita González Fraga, first deputy minister of Foreign Trade, said that today there are those who try to show the state monopoly on foreign trade as a centralizing whim and numerous criticisms are poured on this opinion on this issue.

She pointed out that it should be assumed that the state monopoly of foreign trade includes state control over foreign trade activity and the execution, by state entities, of export and import operations.

“We have not renounced and will not renounce the monopoly of foreign trade. This is a very important element to take into account,” she stated.

“In the operation, it must be said that for many years private entities have been involved that have been authorized to do so, such as the different modalities of foreign investment.

“Since July 2020, with the measures taken after the approval of the economic and social strategy, it was approved that a group of state-owned companies carry out foreign trade in non-state management forms. The question is to use forms that allow the country to be protected from the risks that the measures associated with this issue entail.”

In this regard, she recalled that Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, in the central report of the Party Congress, made reference to this issue and quoted the words of the leader of the Revolution:

“Others, hoping to blow up the socialist principle of the state monopoly over foreign trade, have been demanding that private commercial importation be authorized in the spirit of establishing a non-state system of domestic trade. These are questions that cannot lead to confusion and much less to naivety on the part of the leadership cadres and Party militants. There are limits that we cannot exceed, because the consequences would be irreversible and would lead to strategic errors and the very destruction of socialism and, therefore, of national sovereignty and independence.”

The deputy minister affirmed that it is very opportune to remember it, and added that in the analysis carried out, the criterion has been considered that the measures adopted must stimulate exports of goods and services and eliminate all the obstacles and obstacles that limit or prevent them.

“As for imports, the objective would be for these to be financed from new flows received from exports or for other concepts, so that they do not exert additional pressure on the country’s demand for foreign currency, and that, in addition, in the medium term they can really contribute to increasing national production and reducing imports, another of the proposed objectives”.

She ratified that the state monopoly of foreign trade will continue to be exercised by the Cuban State, which will establish the regulations and control of trade.

“It will continue to be the Cuban State that regulates and controls foreign trade.

On the other hand, the decision has been made to strengthen the state company that carries out foreign trade, increasing the efficiency of operations for non-state forms of management”, she stressed.

She pointed out that this is a measure that has been implemented for some time and there is progress. It was born with 23 state companies that carried out foreign trade and today there are more than 60.

Until last week, he reported, 14,362 foreign trade contracts had been signed, 252 of them for exports, for an amount of 21.4 million dollars, and 13,981 for imports, for a value of more than 240 million dollars.

“In other words, it is a measure that has had an effect, and we are going to continue strengthening the state company and providing a more efficient service.

“Likewise, we are going to continue promoting the creation of state MSMEs for the development of import and export activities for the sale of wholesale products, not only in Havana, it is sought that it be extended to the other provinces of the country, starting through the center and the east.

As an important measure, she considered that certain non-state economic actors will be authorized to directly carry out foreign trade activities under the control of Mincex.

He emphasized that to export and import you have to have technical knowledge. “This is not just any activity, it is necessary to know about certification, product quality, commercial law when signing contracts, insurance, reinsurance, of the actors involved in foreign trade operations.

“Unfortunately, there is a tendency to simplify what foreign trade operations are and it is believed that everyone is trained or has the possibilities to import and export.”

He specified that this power (directly carry out foreign trade activity under the control of the Mincex) will be granted to certain non-state actors based on the following criteria:

-The power to export will be granted to entities that produce goods and services with export possibilities in which direct sales abroad can facilitate them.

“We are evaluating starting with entities that export IT services,” he said.

-Import power will be granted in those cases in which carrying out this activity directly allows the conclusion of advantageous contracts that contribute to obtaining goods and services in the national economy with better conditions in terms of prices and others.

“That is to say, entities that manage to market their products and services at better prices to the Cuban population will be given the power to import.

“It must be said that imports are going to be restricted to inputs, raw materials, equipment and other products necessary to fulfill their fundamental economic activity, the corporate purpose for which they were created.

“This will be done as established for state companies. There is no distinction between non-state and state companies. That is, through a nomenclature authorized by Mincex.

“We are going to evaluate the corporate purpose of the entity and, on that basis, the established nomenclature will be granted.”

-The other approved measure is to ensure that the economic actors involved in these activities have their own differentiated and executable flows for import and export, so that they do not exert additional pressure on the country’s demand for foreign currency.

The first deputy minister of Foreign Trade highlighted that a working group has been created, led by the Mincex, which is evaluating all forms of non-state management that export services in order, in September, to present for approval the first entities that would be granted the power to execute foreign trade directly.

She acknowledged that they are complex issues and assured that the Mincex is in the greatest disposition to clarify doubts, support and help through its website and its profiles on social networks.

“This Tuesday we will publish a group of questions and answers on our website and on the Cubadebate website that offer more details on the implementation of these measures,” she advanced.

“We are open to answer any questions or concerns at the Mincex headquarters, in our profiles or at the single window for foreign investment,” she added.

“We are in a complex scenario, which forces us to make risky decisions, which we must accompany with control measures so that the expected results are not deviated.

“These decisions do not by themselves solve the problems we face today, all of us involved in these decisions and in these approved measures have to work hard, and we have the obligation to attract good partners, act quickly and have the personnel prepared to exercise this task.

“To the extent that we advance in the implementation of these measures, we will be in a position to continue informing our population about them,” she concluded.

(Cubadebate Editorial Team)

At a time when efforts are being made to increase the participation of international capital in the country’s economy, deputies were informed of results achieved during the last Havana International Trade Fair.

Likewise submitted to the relevant commission was a report on the country’s work to guarantee the rights of children.

Food production was also analyzed, with emphasis on increasing the application of science and technology in agriculture, in an effort to better meet the population’s needs.

Progress in meeting objectives established to recover tobacco production; growth in tourism, its sustainability, and relation to the rest of the economy; as well as reports from the Attorney General and People’s Supreme Court are scheduled for discussion today.

(Granma)

The improvement process, which has gradually been carried out across the state enterprise sector since 2011, is geared toward giving greater autonomy to these entities, with clearly defined objectives which include separating enterprise functions from those of the state, improving efficiency and organization, as well as ensuring that entities generate capital to reinvest and transforming revenue distribution mechanisms.

The new legal regulations for the Cuban state enterprise system, published December 13 in Extraordinary Official Gazette No.58 represent, according to officials from the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP) and the Permanent Commission for Implementation and Development of policy guidelines (CPID), another step toward achieving these goals and aligning legislation with approved policies for the updating of Cuba’s economic model.

Regarding Decree No.336, Johana Odriozola Guitart, the MEP’s legal director, stated that it does not apply to all of the more than 80 Central Enterprise Management Organizations (OSDE), which exist in the country today, but rather those created as part of the process to improve Central State Administration Bodies (OACE) and others which already existed but had been restructured as part of these efforts.

An important feature of these new regulations, she said, “is that the state enterprise system will no longer come under the control of the ministries. The OSDEs will have direct relations with all other OACEs, Cuban state organizations and institutions.

“What does having direct relations mean? Before, in order for the OSDEs and other entities to undertake any procedure with another organization, they had to first request authorization from the ministry with which they were affiliated. Now (once the regulations come into effect) any such activity can be dealt with directly by the president of an OSDE.

“This, in addition to speeding up the process, contributes to separating state functions from those of enterprises by freeing ministries of these aforementioned daily processes, which in many cases, consist of administering resources for the state enterprise system.”
These transformations, noted Odriozola Guitart “also imply an important change in mentalities with relations now based on coordination, guidance, and supervision rather than subordination.”

According to the MEP’s legal director, the new regulations do not mark the beginning of a process, but are rather part of the process of institutional improvement already in place.

The Ministry of Economy and Planning, for example, will now draw up a plan for OSDEs linked to ministries which have undergone the improvement process. In this way, planning processes are more directly to the organization’s economic activity, and to reality, she said

Likewise, after giving a brief overview of Decree-Law No.334, and Decrees No.334 and No.335, Yovana Vega Mato, deputy director of the CPID’s Entity Improvement Department, announced the authorities that had been extended to the state enterprise system and which were previously not applicable to entities undergoing the improvement process.

In this sense she emphasized the work of governing bodies, which represent the interests of the State in the management of the enterprise system, and which were initially designed to deal with entities undergoing institutional improvement.

Their gradual extension to the OSDEs was approved in 2012, with 28 currently in existence and another 23 in the process of being formed.

These governing bodies, noted the official, are responsible for approving OSDE strategic development plans, assessing the relevance of their economic agendas, conducting quarterly checks to ensure that they are complying with managerial directives, and managing the distribution of earnings.

Meanwhile, Vega Mato stressed the importance of adequately training administrators, because new powers mean greater responsibilities.

“At times, gaps in the knowledge and shortcomings in training of those responsible for carrying out transformations at all levels, have meant that we have not always achieved the outcome we had hoped for,” she noted.
Thus a broad training process is set to be carried out starting February, 2018 and involving around 40,000 senior officials from across the country.

Both Yovana Vega and Johana Odriozola stressed the importance of having an Enterprise Law, given that the new regulations represent interim measures until other issues affecting state enterprise management can be resolved, such as financial autonomy, the distribution of resources, and currency and exchange rate unification.

In institutional and structural terms, the new regulations are an attempt to standardize the entire enterprise system, stated Odriozola Guitart, who noted that the success of this process will depend on adequately training cadres responsible for implementing the changes, which affect everyone.

In April 2011, the Sixth Party Congress approved Guidelines six, seven and 15, which state:
The state enterprise system should be composed of efficient, well organized, and effective entities; state and enterprise functions should be separated and the Enterprise Improvement processes be integrated into the Economic Model policies.
In April, 2016, the Seventh Party Congress approved:
-The Conceptualization of the Cuban Economic and Social Model of Socialist Development

- The bases for the National Social and Economic Development Plan through 2030, the nation’s vision, priorities and strategic sectors

- Economic and Social Policy Guidelines of the Party and Revolution for the period 2016-2021.
- Guideline number nine specifies: Proceed with perfecting the state enterprise system, by gradually awarding directors of entities new and clearly defined powers, in order to create more autonomous, effective, and competitive entities, on the basis of a rigorously designed and implemented internal accounting system; with well-organized, disciplined, and rigorous administrative management. Systematically assess the results of its application and its impact.
- Draw up a legal framework to comprehensively regulate enterprise activity.
MAIN TRANSFORMATIONS TO THE CUBAN STATE ENTERPRISE SECTOR (2011-2017)

APRIL 2013
The Council of Ministers grants enterprises the authority to use up to 50% of after-tax earnings to create funds for development, investments, and workers’ salaries, once they have fulfilled their commitments to the State and established responsibilities. Entities are no longer required to submit depreciation and amortization payments to the state budget.
MAY 2013

Resolution No.132 of 2013 of the Ministry of Economy and Planning allows enterprises to offer services or products linked to their social objective to any individual or legal entity. Enterprise directors are responsible for undertaking any secondary activities stemming from the entity’s principal activities as defined in its social objective. Once they have fulfilled their commitments to the state, enterprises are authorized to sell any surplus at market prices.
NOVEMBER 2013
Implemented on an experimental basis, is a new concept of “encargo estatal,” the state’s order, designed to contribute to gradually expanding the wholesale market, by allowing directors to sell (based on market demands) certain surplus goods and services to legal entities, once the enterprise has fulfilled its commitments, and covered all its costs, expenses, and tax obligations.
DECEMBER 2013

The Council of Ministers approves the legal policy and regulations to perfect Cuban export enterprises, based on Guideline 107 designed to “promote the establishment of enterprises and alliances abroad, in order to better position Cuban interests in international markets, provided that it is economically justifiable and appropriate.”
MARCH 2014
Presented are the basic concepts governing relations between the Council of Ministers and OACE with OSDEs, based on the need to separate enterprise functions from those of the state, give entities greater autonomy, and increase their levels of responsibility, efficiency, and management of resources.
APRIL 2014
Resolution No.17 of 2014 of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, linking wages to results, comes into effect. Other regulations linked to the price of surplus wholesale products and new financial regulations for enterprises are issued.

Likewise, the responsibility of approving an entity’s annual plan, passes from the corresponding sector ministry or Provincial Administration Council (CAP) to the OSDE president.

In order to create more efficient and competitive enterprises, amendments are made to Decree-Law 252 and Decree 281 of the Council of Ministers, regulating the enterprise improvement process, which is part of broader efforts to implement the Economic and Social Policy Guidelines of the Party and Revolution.
JUNE 2014
Issued is Decree-Law No.321, related to the objectives of the ministries of Foreign Trade and Investment (Mincex), Food Industry (Minal), Domestic Trade (Mincin), and Construction (Micons), as part of efforts by the Permanent Implementation and Development Commission to improve Central State Administration Bodies (OACEs).

The measure legally separates these organizations from the administrative activities of the state enterprise sector, allowing for the more comprehensive, organized and efficient functioning of their structures and freeing up public administration bodies, while also strengthening their regulatory, oversight and supervisory role.
OCOTBER 2014
Reviewed are proposals for improving the Ministry of Finance and Prices enterprise system, known as the Caudal S.A. Business Group, which offers professional services in the financial sector, specifically insurance. The proposals are geared toward resolving longstanding and current problems, and strengthening the organization, “which will offer insurance services, asset evaluations, audits, feasibility studies, consultation services, everything related to economic activity and management, in order to support the development of the enterprise sector and non-state forms of management.” These measures are also geared toward facilitating foreign investment in the country.
OCTOBER 2014
New measures linked to the functions and responsibilities of Basic Enterprise Units (UEB) are approved. Central Enterprise Management Organizations (OSDE), UEBs and other organizations, ratified as business entities, and the idea that even though they may have different responsibilities and roles, there is a close link between all of their functions, thus establishing the foundations on which to organize a more efficient and effective state enterprise system.
APIRL 2016
Resolution 6 of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, which replaces Resolution 17, of 2014, relating to the link between employee wages and results, comes into force.
DECEMBER 2017
Decree-Law No.334: introduces amendments to DL 252/2007 “regarding the continuation and strengthening of the Cuban Enterprise Direction and Management System.”

Decree No.334: introduces amendments to Decree 281/2007 “Regulation for the implementation and consolidation of the Cuban Enterprise Direction and Management System.”
Decree No.335: “On the Cuban State Enterprise System”
Decree No.336: “On the system of relations between central enterprise management organizations.”
All these measures are designed to strengthen the organization, efficiency, and effectiveness of the socialist state enterprise.

(Granma)