Raul: Documents of 7th PCC Congress will be Democratically Discussed

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 16 (acn) The documents emanating from the 7th Congress of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) will be subject to democratic analysis in order to enrich them and improve them, stated Army General Raul Castro, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the PCC and President of the councils of State and Ministers.

While reading the Central Report of the Party meeting, Raul asserted that issues such as the conceptualization of the Cuban economic model –tackled for the first time in this type of congress-, and the Basis of the Development Plan of the country until 2030, will be discussed by members of the PCC and the UJC (Young Communists League).
Their presentation to representatives of mass organizations and large sectors of society, after their analysis by the delegates to the momentous meeting of Communists that began today at Havana's Convention Center, has also been conceived.
In the presence of delegates and guests, Raul referred to the documents that will be addressed at that meeting, such as the topic of the conceptualization of the economic and social model, which establishes its theoretical bases and essential characteristics.
He also referred to the project related to the bases of the National Development Plan until 2030, the result of the work of academics and specialists from government agencies and the Permanent Commission for the Implementation and Development of the Guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy of the PCC.
Raul commented that this Plan is expected to conclude in 2017, so only its bases will be presented to this Congress: the vision of the nation and the strategic axes and sectors.
In addressing the issue of the Guidelines, he said that since their approval in the previous Congress, the process to implement them has not been a road free of obstacles and contradictions.
The Cuban President asserted that work has been carried out in a systematic fashion and with intensity on the 313 Guidelines approved, 21 percent of which has materialized, 77 percent are under implementation, and two percent has not started.
As a result of the work of implementation and the new tasks incorporated into the process of updating the economic model, Raul stated that a proposal for the period 2016-2021, covering a total of 268 lines -44 of them new-, will be put to the delegates of the current Congress for consideration.
The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the PCC said that the gradual realization of the Guidelines is reflected in the approval of 130 policies, the issue of 344 new legal norms, changes in 55 and the repeal of 684.
However, the slow implementation of legal regulations and their assimilation, have delayed the implementation of those approved, he pointed out.
The premise that no one will be abandoned determines the speed of the updating of the Cuban economic model, which has been influenced by the international crisis and the effects of the U.S. blockade against Cuba, asserted Raul.
Also while reading the report, the Cuban President addressed issues such as the preservation and perfecting of social services to the population in areas like education, health, culture, sports and social security, "although we must insist on the need to continuously improve their quality ".
He also referred to the current plan of action to face the diseases transmitted by the Aedes mosquito.