Diaz-Canel called on the Council of Ministers to work to start 2020 the way the country needs

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 27 (ACN) A few days after the National Assembly of People's Power elected the Prime Minister, the deputy prime ministers and the new cabinet, the last meeting of the Council of Ministers in 2019 was held at the Palace of the Revolution, presided over by Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel and led by Manuel Marrero, Cuban PM.

The extensive working agenda included crucial issues of economic and social life influencing the national reality and defining strategic lines for the development of the Government in 2020.
Diaz-Canel listed four key priorities: the ideological battle against the current colonizing platform sought to be imposed on the country and the attempts of the US government to discredit the Revolution; the defense of the nation; the active legislative exercise initiated to support the Constitution of the Republic; and the economic challenge.
Referring to the latter, he assessed that 2020 has to be the year for proposing everything that needs to be implemented to boost productive forces, which cannot be misunderstood as privatization, since that is not our path. Therefore, he insisted on a detailed analysis of what needs to be unblocked from the state and what from the private sector so that the Cuban economy becomes more balanced and dynamic.
We will continue working to allow a place for all forms of management and ownership endorsed in the conception of the Cuban economic and social model and also in the Magna Carta. "We are going to remove obstacles in order to strengthen state-owned companies and make the real entrepreneurial restructuring the country needs," he stressed.
With special emphasis, the Cuban president referred to the need to keep the savings measures in daily practice as a government disposition and that must be fulfilled at all levels; "working with the savings measures is also to know how to face the problems differently".
After an extensive appraisal of the current scenario in the country, Diaz-Canel commented exhaustively on the priorities that have already been defined for the Cuban government's management in the next year in the most diverse fields. Among them, he highlighted the fight for efficiency; the improvement of the government's work in all its instances; the quality of criminal proceedings; the updating and modernization of the financial banking system; and the strengthening of foreign investment.
He also stressed that we must continue working non-stop to ensure the quality of services in tourism; break the chains of non-payment in domestic trade; achieve greater production of food and medicines; replace imports; advance in the computerization of society and compliance with the National Housing Policy in its second year of implementation; foster electricity generation from non-diesel consuming sources; as well as continue confronting corruption and illegalities.
Next year we are going to systematize the rigorous and in-depth analysis of the economic results, Diaz-Canel continued.
For his part, deputy PM and minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil, who was in charge of presenting this subject, said that although the investment rate in the country is below what is required to boost real development, it is imperative to overcome the problems affecting the investment process before increasing it and allocating more resources to it.
It is an issue - he stressed - that must be urgently addressed in the economy; we have sufficient scientific-technical potential and knowledge in the country for feasibility studies to be carried out with the required quality and allow for real growth in investments.
This is a task -Gil added- in which " the life of the economy is about", because we cannot aspire to higher growth rates if we do not make an efficient investment process, because that is where the growth is, in investment, therefore this is something that we have to transform.
In this regard, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero considered that no sector of the economy is excluded from this issue, which urges greater objectivity in the feasibility analysis, which must necessarily take into account the market, but also ensure that investments are in line with the real productive potential at hand.
During the meeting, it was also approved the Land and Urban Planning Plan of the Ariguanabo Special Development Zone, located in the provinces of Havana and Artemisa; as well as the National State Plan of Action for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda in Cuba until 2036, which implementation has the aim; on the basis of the demographic, economic, social, political and environmental characteristics and conditions; of determining the relevant actions to strengthen the cities and other human settlements as dynamizers of sustainable development.
Both documents were presented by the President of the Institute of Physical Planning, Samuel Rodiles Planas, who was also in charge of informing about the Territorial Planning Scheme for Habitat in the country, and highlighted its importance as a tool for the implementation of the Housing Policy in Cuba.
Subsequently, the Minister of Communications Jorge Luis Perdomo explained the work system update and the measures for the protection of the national cyberspace, a strategic issue that had been assessed and approved by the Council of Ministers earlier this year.
The meeting also approved the report presented by the Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, referring to production with export potential based on exploiting local resources, an issue where the results achieved to date remain insufficient.
He explained the work is based on three types of products and services at the local level: those that are already exported and need to be strengthened; those that are under development; and those that can be fostered. Regarding the latter aspect, he insisted on sustainable exports, at least essentially, with local resources and that they do not imply making imports for their realization.
Malmierca also presented a report on foreign investment, external credits and exports in the higher management organizations attended by the Minister of Communications, aspects which are important to prioritize the attention of MINCEX, MINCOM and their business groups, in order to obtain a higher growth of the projected results.
Another aspect analyzed was the behavior of employment in the country during the year, topic where the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Martha Elena Feito, reported that by the end of 2019, 4.515.200 Cubans are expected to be employed in the economy; of them, more than 3 million in the state sector.
Feito explained that, when comparing these employment statistics with the 2018, an increase of 32,500 workers can be noticed. Even though in previous years the occupation had had a more or less similar behavior from the point of view of quantity - she explained - it had a sustained tendency to decrease and, for the first time, in this last period there was an increase in the occupancy; she also highlighted the reincorporation of more than 12,000 teachers to the classrooms in the different levels of education.
She also talked about the plans for the continuation of studies of 9th and 12th grade graduates in the 2020-2021 academic year and added that all the graduates of the different levels of education have guaranteed study continuity in the next academic period.
At the same meeting, Gladys Bejerano Portela, Cuba´s Comptroller General, reported the results of the control actions for the execution of the 2019 State Budget, which, although show progress compared to previous stages, also demonstrate how much can be done to better prepare the different controls and make them more efficient and comprehensive.
She also informed the Council of Ministers about the analysis of the complaints and claims related to the behavior of some cadres and their ties to criminal acts and corruption.
Gustavo Rodriguez Rollero, Minister of Agriculture, presented a report on the state of recovery of the Agricultural Products Collection System and its projections.
Among other actions, the retail network for agricultural products has been strengthened with 5,363 units; the construction and constructive maintenance of several agricultural markets for the completion of the retail network was planned in the Economy Plan for the year 2020; and new tractors and trucks were acquired, as well as others repaired.
For the first time, the actions carried out in Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies were presented in the Council of Ministers, highlighting their contribution to the economic and social development of the country.
In presenting the matter, the Minister of Science, Technology and Environment, Elba Rosa Perez, stressed the eight priority lines of work, including Bionanomedicine for the diagnosis of diseases, agriculture, construction and human resources training.
The Minister of Higher Education, Jose Ramon Saborido, also submitted the proposal to create a non-profit foundation at the University of Havana, within the framework of the approved policy of university-industry ties, as a alternative for the management of science, technology and innovation.
The meeting was also attended by the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, Jose Ramon Machado Ventura; the president of the National Assembly of People's Power and the Council of State, Esteban Lazo Hernandez; the vice president of the Republic, Salvador Valdes Mesa; and, through videoconference, the leaders of the Party and the government of the provinces and municipalities of the country.