Radio Havana Cuba-04 August 2000 23:00 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 04 August 2000 23:00 *ACP DELEGATION WRAPS UP OFFICIAL VISIT TO CUBA *CUBAN ECONOMY GROWS BY 7.7 PERCENT DURING FIRST SEMESTER 2000 *CUBA AND NICARAGUA SIGN COOPERATION AGREEMENT *GOVERNOR OF BRAZILIAN STATE OF AMAZONAS TO VISIT CUBA *NEW CHILDREN’S BOOK ON THE ENVIRONMENT ANNOUNCED *UNDER NEOLIBERALISM, ECONOMIC GROWTH DOESN'T EQUAL SOCIAL WELL-BEING *ACP DELEGATION WRAPS UP OFFICIAL VISIT TO CUBA Havana, August 4 (RHC) -- A high-level delegation of the Group of African, Caribbean and Pacific nations, the ACP, has wrapped up an official visit to Cuba. At a press conference in Havana before his departure, the president of the ACP's Council of Ministers, Anicet- Georges Deloguele, reiterated his organization's interest in seeing Cuba as a full ACP member. Underlining the importance that this organization of 77 Third World nations attributes to Cuba's future role in the ACP, Dologuele said it's the first time that such a high-level delegation has been sent to a country to hold a political dialogue. As an ACP observer, Cuba this year withdrew from negotations for a new trade and cooperation accord between the ACP and the European Union -- terming as unacceptable the EU's political pressures and conditions regarding Cuba's full membership in the ACP. Dologuele also reiterated the ACP's total solidarity with Cuba, insisting that this Caribbean nation has an important role to play withing the organization -- comprised mostly of former European colonies. *CUBAN ECONOMY GROWS BY 7.7 PERCENT DURING FIRST SEMESTER 2000 Havana, August 4(RHC)- Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage announced that the Cuban economy has grown by 7.7 percent over the first semester of this year. During an interview aired Thursday evening on Cuban television, Lage praised efforts by the U.S. Congress to lift a long-standing ban on the sale of food and medicine to Cuba. He described the initiative as "very positive," affirming that Washington's attempt to starve the Cuban people into submission has long proven to be completely inefficient and obsolete. However, the Cuban official stressed that due to restrictions imposed by Washington's 40-year blockade of Cuba, those efforts will never materialize as long as the United States maintains an aggressive policy toward its neighboring Caribbean island. Lage, who is also the Executive Secretary of the Cuban Council of Ministers, mentioned that the main problem affecting Cuba's economic recovery is the deficit in the island's current account. He added that due to a hike in world oil prices, Cuba has been forced to spend some $500 million dollars in excess of the same period of last year. The Cuban vice president highlighted that, despite Washington's blockade, macroeconomic growth has improved the living conditions of the Cuban people, and cited some figures that confirm a strong and progressive trend toward economic recovery over the first semester of this year. Among them is an increase by 18 percent in sugar production, 32 percent in the production of crude oil and a 6 percent growth rate in both tourism and foreign investment. Finally, Carlos Lage stressed that the island was able to resist the acute economic crisis in the early 1990s thanks to its central planning system. He reiterated that the island will continue to promote joint ventures, using foreign capital, as a complement to internal efforts towards economic development. *CUBA AND NICARAGUA SIGN COOPERATION AGREEMENT Managua, August 4(RHC)- Cuba and Nicaragua have signed a cooperation agreement to promote bilateral trade between the two nations. The accord was signed in Managua, the Nicaragua capital, by the General Manager of the country's Exports and Investment Promotion Center, Jaime Pfaeffle, and Cuban Business Attaché in the Central American nation, Jesus Subiaur. Under the agreement, both countries are committed to the systematic bilateral exchange of specialized information in areas such as technology, trade and economy, in a way that facilitates learning about the functioning and future prospects of their respective markets. The protocol also provides for bilateral cooperation in the training of skilled personnel in the area of trade and exports, through their participation in seminars, courses and related activities. Nicaragua will be present at the 18th International Trade Fair, FIHAV 2000, set for November here in the Cuban capital. *GOVERNOR OF BRAZILIAN STATE OF AMAZONAS TO VISIT CUBA Havana, August 4(RHC)- The Governor of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, Armando Mendez, will begin an official visit to Cuba on Monday at the invitation of the Cuban Parliament. The Brazilian official and the delegation accompanying him, composed of members of his cabinet and other renowned Brazilian personalities, will have a packed agenda on the island that includes the signing of a letter of intention to negotiate with Cuba's LABIOFAM Company - Havana's Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Laboratories. The Brazilian state of Amazonas will receive a 45,000,000-dollar bid comprised of LABIOFAM products this year, including the world famous Biorat agent to eliminate rats, as well as other highly effective bio-larvicides to eliminate mosquitoes. *NEW CHILDREN’S BOOK ON THE ENVIRONMENT ANNOUNCED Havana, August 4(RHC)- Cuba's Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment has announced that a new children's book, entitled "Environmental Mission," will soon be launched in Havana. The book includes illustrations, poems and information on environmental issues. "Environmental Mission" is a children's version of Agenda 21, which was approved and ratified by Cuba during the June 1992 Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The book, which is aimed at fomenting the protection of the environment among future generations, will soon be available for all Cuban children. *Viewpoint: UNDER NEOLIBERALISM, ECONOMIC GROWTH DOESN'T EQUAL SOCIAL WELL-BEING The American version of the New Trojan Horse is under the impression that the economic first amendment is related to an unrestrained and unbridled marketplace. Almost 20 years after the US prescribed the ideal neoliberal formula for social development, the consequences have discredited the recipe and have turned predictions of better living conditions for all upside down. Latin American social statistics have only served to illustrate the failure of the Chicago School of Economics - commonly known as the "Chicago Boys" - in affecting economic development. It is a well-known fact that, in light of decades of neoliberal reform, Latin America is currently the region with the most extreme disparities in social stratification worldwide. This issue, which has been downplayed by the mass media and economists alike, permeates Latin American societies like a plague in which social injustice prevails. Poverty has become so overwhelming that economists have created new categories, such as the former middle and lower classes, to describe the downward social trends that are devastating the region's middle and popular sectors. In a region of the planet where half of its 500 million inhabitants are included in the category of abject poverty, there is no justification for the continuance of the neoliberal model, not even the mild successes of domestic consumption or the reduction of inflation which in reality affect a very small percentage of the region's population. It is clearer than ever that growth does not translate into social well being. On the contrary, unemployment has grown excessively, while 40 per cent of all Latin Americans suffer from malnutrition. Consequently, the region has witnessed a reduction in both childbirths and average school enrollment per family. A decade of bourgeois democracy and neoliberal reform, after three decades of military rule throughout the region, has brought about unparalleled waves of violence and drug trafficking-two serious social problems that have shaken the weak foundation of fragile institutions. Neoliberal adjustment, which glorifies free market economics, capital investment, fiscal balance, competitiveness and privatization translates into a model of blood, sweat and tears, according to Nobel Economics laureate Amartya Sen. Despite the obvious failures of the neoliberal panorama, the vast majority of Latin American politicians, now more than ever, dance on the strings of U.S. mandates. Social deterioration and injustice generate discontent and demand changes. (c) 2000 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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