The technological modernization undertaken in hotel facilities in the province of Cienfuegos during 2014 increased the efficiency and quality of services in the tourist destination of Central Cuba.

Argentinean Airlines (AA) flies for the second time this year to Cuba with fully occupancy, while its two weekly flights during January have already been fully booked.

The International Habano Cigar Festival will be held February 23 to 27 at Havana´s Conventions Palace with the usual attendance of business people, cigar distributors, specialists who will dedicate the event to the Cuban traditionally famous brand Romeo y Julieta.

Cuba´s Tourism Ministry announced that the total figure of foreign tourists to Cuba reached 3 million on December 30, standing for a 5.3 percent growth if compared to last year.

With the opening today of the Eden Village Cayo Guillermo Club, at Jardines del Rey tourist pole, the Italian firm Eden Viaggi strengthens its tour operation in Cuba thus taking advantage of the high season in this Caribbean destination.

Experts with the Peterson International Economy Institute in the U.S. estimate that US exports to Cuba could reach 4.3 billion dollars annually, if commercial relations between the two countries are reestablished.

Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry O. Rogozin expressed today his country´s willingness to increase collaboration in various fields and economic and commercial ties with Cuba.

Cuban economy will grow four percent "or more" in 2015, said today the Minister of Economy and Planning Marino Murillo, speaking at the Fourth Regular Session of the Eighth Legislature of the Cuban Parliament.

Havana hosts the twelfth session of the Cuban-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on economic-trade and technical and scientific collaboration.

Cuba will present to the international market two new types of Habanos, aged between five and eight years in perfect conditions allowing smokers to enjoy a high quality product.

The number of tourist that have come to Cuba till November, 2014, is 2 million 669 thousand, which translates in a 5 percent growth compared to the same period last year, Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero told lawmakers in Havana.

For the second time this year, Washington imposed a multi-million fine on a European bank under the extraterritorial economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba. This time, Germany´s Commerzbank will have to pay one billion dollars for maintaining financial operations with the island.

Although it is a high priority for the Cuban government, the delivery of land in usufruct to natural persons, a measured adopted in 2008, does not deliver the expected results, it was learned today in the debates of the Parliament´s Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs.
________________________________________
HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 16 (acn) Although it is a high priority for the Cuban government, the delivery of land in usufruct to natural persons, a measured adopted in 2008, does not deliver the expected results, it was learned today in the debates of the Parliament´s Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs.

The lawmakers said that there is no correspondence between the areas granted and the long-awaited production increases, because many do not bear fruit by insufficient and inadequate exploitation.

In this regard several deputies proposed to reevaluate the process of granting, through which Cuba tries to inject vitality into the national agriculture.

In discussions they analized the discreet progress obtained after a million 580,000 hectares of idle land were made available to individuals.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the country has an agricultural area of six million 342 thousand hectares and about 16 percent of the land is still unused.

The deputies were interested in the sector's contribution to the State Budget in payment of taxes, given the vast possibilities of generating revenue from new flexibilities that allow, for example, increasing to 67.1 hectares the area granted to individuals linked to the Credit and Service Cooperatives.

n this regard, Meisi Bolaños, Deputy Minister of Finance and Prices, stressed that agriculture could be one of the sector with the largest to the budget, however, announced that in 2015 it will be necessary to keep the exemption from taxation for possession and idleness of land in the case of its beneficial owners.

According to the official, this measure remains because there are still no conditions necessary to implement tax liens, since Cuba does not have a sustainable agricultural infrastructure.

And the extension of the use and exploitation of other areas such as beaches, in the case of legal persons is discussed, but they need to further evaluate the previous experience of the agricultural lease, she added.

Minister of Economy and Planning Marino Murillo confirmed today in Havana that the Cuban economy is expected to grow in 2015 at rates that will break the slowing trend of recent years.