• Submitted by: manso
• Politics and Government
• 11 / 13 / 2010

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Friday, November 12, 2010.The top US diplomat for Latin America said Wednesday that the United States looked favourably on Cuba's new economic policy shifts though he acknowledged "greater liberalisation" was needed.

"These reforms could point to an important shift in Cuban economic policy," Arturo Valenzuela told reporters on a brief visit to Uruguay.

"These are preliminary steps of what would need to be a process of greater liberalisation," but the United States sees them "positively," he stressed.

"We appreciate the fact that in Cuba important steps are being taken such as the release of political prisoners, and we hope some more prisoners can be freed,and that the Catholic church's cooperation is useful," Valenzuela added,speaking in Spanish.

"At the same time, we see that these possible economic changes could begin to respond to major economic challenges that Cuba faces on the economic front," said Valenzuela, noting that Cuba was in an acute economic crisis even as many South American countries were seeing solid growth this year.

Cuban authorities unveiled a new five-year plan Tuesday that calls for cuts in social spending while attracting private capital, in a bid to jumpstart problems with the economy.

The document will serve as the basis for debate at next April's Cuban Communist Party Congress, the first since 1997.

Cuban President Raul Castro called Monday for the gathering to "update" economic policy.

In October, the Havana government started a process of eliminating 500,000 state jobs by March, and said its ultimate aim is to slash more than one million positions -- a 20 per cent reduction in Cuba's workforce.

The plans call for a dose of free-market policies including the end of the "equal pay" regime, to be replaced by a new system in which worker salaries are linked to performance.

The government, which controls some 90 per cent of the economy, would start withdrawing by eliminating money-losing state-owned firms, encouraging public-private partnerships and more small private businesses and farms. This would be aided by credits that could be offered to private business owners.

The new plan also calls for consideration of ending the two-tiered currency system. Another measure in the five-year plan would eliminate the longstanding food ration book for Cubans, a staple of everyday life for more than five decades.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/US-gives-Cuba-s-new-economic-policies-no\d-of-approval_8140802


Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/118915