Cuban Parliament Discusses Vital Issues for the Country's Development

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 5 (acn) A complex panorama impacts on the country's income and marks the behavior of the economy in the first half of the year, but with the guarantee that the basic services of the population, as it was known on Monday in the sessions of the 10 Committees of the National Assembly of the People's Power, will be protected.

In the presence of Parliament President Esteban Lazo, and ministers of various sectors, Marino Murillo, member of the Political Bureau of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) and Vice-president of the Council of Ministers, called on a strict and more efficient use of energy sources and stressed that the country will continue to support vital services for the population.
He further stressed the decision to maintain the measures implemented to increase the purchasing power of the Cuban peso, which has led to a growing increase in sales of products such as chicken, rice, peas and oil.
As part of the discussions of the Committee on Industry, Construction and Energy, it was informed that 2,207 houses were completed in Cuba by state entities by the end of May, for an 88 percent compliance of plans to that date.
Deputies knew that the results of the call for registration in the military register were positive, and more than 20,000 youngsters passed medical examinations during the first five months of the year to declare them fit to fulfill Active Military Service.
It was also known that the effectiveness of confrontation techniques of the General Customs of the Republic of Cuba increased, which guaranteed a more dynamic transit of passengers.
Also known on Monday was the growing interest of parliamentarians in the world to visit Cuba and see the national reality first hand, even though many of these legislators believe that with the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the U.S. the blockade issue is solved.
In this regard, Kenia Serrano, president of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, called for greater influence work to make the issue of the blockade known in all international meetings possible.
In order that the work of the Cuban legislature is closer to the people, and to provide information on the political system, the adopted laws and the parliamentary agenda, the website of the National Assembly (www.parlamentocubano.cu) was re-launched on Monday.
The importance of regulating the concentration of wealth in the non-state sector in order to preserve the principles Socialism defends, and the successful development of entrance examinations to higher education, were also topics of discussion.
Also, Lina Pedraza, Minister of Finance and Prices, informed that in the first half of the year an excellent performance of tax revenues planned was achieved, which she described as positive progress.