Cuban FM presents changes and modifications to the Foreign Service bill

HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 26 (ACN) Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, Cuban foreign minister, explained Monday the changes and modifications to the foreign service bill done after previous consultation with Cuban MPs and taking into account concerns that the population sent via e-mail.

In a meeting held at the Havana Convention Center, prior to the 5th Ordinary Period of Sessions of the National Assembly of the People's Power (Parliament), set for October 28, the minister explained that the commission in charge of drafting the legislation has had a close exchange with the representatives.
Among the changes, the Cuban minister of foreign affairs mentioned, for example, that although no distinctions were made between government and state, it was decided for the entire text of the law to mention the state as the subject of foreign action, with few exceptions when specific government functions are discussed.
Changes were also made throughout the whole document, such as the use of the phrase "interests of the people" instead of "national interest," and the term inspection was removed from Article 1 because of the concept of control that is implicit in it.
The document now lists among the priority sectors of the foreign service those related to sports relations, as had been suggested, while at the request of mentioning in the body of the text non-governmental organizations or persons such as the self-employed, Rodriguez Parrilla explained that these civil society organizations are included under the umbrella term organizations.
Several of the suggestions made, while taken into account, were not implemented, as Rodriguez Parrilla explained that the promotion of many aspects is based on previous legislation, the Constitution of the Republic, or the Vienna Convention.
The foreign minister explained that a total of 37 proposals were taken into account, among the suggestions made by the parliamentarians and the people, and 20 modifications were made to the text, 11 points were included in some way and on another six issues the corresponding clarifications were carried out.