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.
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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.

The number of visitors to Cuba from the South American Cone went up to 11 thousand 480 in November, standing for 99 percent of the expected figure, according Tourism official in Buenos Aires Niurka Martinez.

Cuban vice president and second secretary of the Communist Party´s Central Committee praised the performance of a sugar plant in the western Mayabeque province given its high levels of efficiency during the current sugar cane campaign.

Revolucion de Octubre factory of nitrogen fertilizers, in the city of Nuevitas, will end the year with 65,000 tons produced for sugarcane and the varied cultivations Cuban agriculture.

With an occupancy rate in 2014 of over 90 percent and customer recognition, the Iberostar Grand Hotel Trinidad , only five-star facility in the province of Sancti Spiritus, is reaffirmed as the preferred destination for foreign visitors.

With the arrival of some 90 passengers of Argentina, Uruguay, Guatemala and Peru, from Panama, Copa Airlines started flights, twice a week, to the Abel Santamaria International Airport of this city.

Cuba and Russia will identify new business opportunities to strengthen commercial exchanges in strategic areas of their economies, on the occasion of the 7th Session of the Business Committee to he held next week in this capital.

More than 35,000 self-employed workers have joined unions in the province of Holguín in response to the Guidelines for Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the Revolution, implemented in Cuba since 2010.

The central Cuban province of Villa Clara and its northern keys expect an increasing number of visitors from over 20 Latin American cities, who begin to arrive here today on a first flight by Panama´s Copa Airlines.