By Ayose Naranjo
HAVANA, Sept 3 (Reuters) – Cuba unveiled regulations on Thursday aimed at attracting foreign investment, trade and tourism to the Caribbean island as it continues to adopt free-market reforms under pressure from Washington and a crippling economic crisis.
The country’s Gaceta, or national registry, published 34 pages of new rules and law changes that, at least on paper, make the island’s white-sand beaches, workers and real estate more accessible to foreign and national investors.
Cubans are cautious as they endure increasingly severe U.S. sanctions, continuous blackouts and an opaque government that has until recently resisted market reforms.
Foreign Commerce Minister Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga acknowledged hard times and an adverse environment for attracting foreign investment, but said the rules would help chart a new course.
The government is “increasing flexibility, simplifying processes, reducing timeframes and red tape, and above all responding to the demands …of investors to facilitate their business operations in Cuba and make their companies more efficient,” the minister said.
The rule changes published Thursday follow an historic package of 176 reforms announced in June, measures widely considered to be the single largest change to Cuba’s socialist model since former leader Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution.
The latest new regulations eliminate an onerous requirement that once forced private companies to contract employees through state employment agencies. Businesses can now handle hiring and firing without state involvement, according to the regulations.
Joint ventures and domestic investors involved in foreign commerce, once required to seek authorization from the government to open accounts in foreign banks, now need only notify island authorities, according to the national registry.
Cuba will also allow private businesses to operate travel agencies and self-employed individuals to work as tour guides, both major concessions in an industry once wholly dominated by the Cuban government.
Despite announcing free-market reforms demanded by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, talks between the two neighboring countries have stagnated in recent months.
(Reporting by Ayose Naranjo; editing by Dave Sherwood and Cynthia Osterman)
