Extracts.
Wednesday, December 13, 2000, updated at 12:34(GMT+8)
Cuba's Economy Improves Despite US Blockage, Minister
Says
Cuba's economy is improving despite the US
four-decade-old blockade, said Government Minister
Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz.
Addressing the 13th session of Sino-Cuban joint
commission for economic and trade relations here
Tuesday, he said in this year's first six-month
period, a 7.7 percent economic growth was registered,
with an increase in productivity and reduced
unemployment.
Cabrisas thanked China for helping the Cuban people
during their moments of hardship, praising bilateral
cooperation in sugar industry, foodstuff, raw
material and medicine in particular.
During the meeting, both parties reviewed economic
and commercial cooperation since the commission's
previous meeting and explored possibilities for
cooperation in new fields for next year.
The Chinese delegation which includes a number of top
entrepreneurs is headed by China's Minister of
Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Shi
Guangsheng.
The Chinese visitors and the Cuban delegation, which
is composed of a number of government ministers as
well as senior officials, are expected to sign a
number of accords on Wednesday, by which China will
help Cuba in seismic movement forecasts and hotel
crediting.
Tuesday's meeting focused on cooperation in the
exploitation of hydraulics, oil and nickel resources,
and better utilization of
sugar cane residues.
Cabrisas expressed the hope that Cuba could diversify
its exports to China, for which he mentioned Cuban
prestige products such as medicines, cigars, sugar
industry derivatives and rum.
Shi said China will continue to develop the economic
and trade relations with Cuba on the basis of
equality and mutual benefits, pledging a certain
amount of economic assistance to Cuba within China's
power.
He believed that the economic and trade ties between
the two countries will surely be strengthened through
joint efforts.
****
Wednesday, December 13, 2000, updated at 11:19(GMT+8)
China, Japan Vow to Further Relations
[Image]
President Jiang Meets with Head of the Democratic
Party of Japan
------------------------------------------------------
China and Japan should make efforts to further
bilateral ties in the new century, Chinese President
Jiang Zemin said Tuesday, December 12.
"A healthy, stable, and friendly Sino-Japanese
relationship is not only conforms to the fundamental
interests of the people of both countries and their
future generations, but also contributes to the
peace, stability and development in the Asia-Pacific
region and the world at large," Jiang said.
In a meeting with Hatoyama Yukio, head of the
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), Jiang described the
current China-Japan relations as "maintaining a sound
momentum" on the whole.
Bilateral cooperation in various areas has further
enriched their partnership of friendly cooperation
oriented towards peace and development, he said.
The Chinese President said that seeking a better
Sino-Japanese relationship is the "common aspiration"
of the people of the two countries, also "the
historical responsibility" of the statesmen,
especially statesmen of the younger generation.
As long as the two countries "take the history as a
mirror, face the future, further the cooperation, and
seek common development," Sino-Japanese relations
will be promising, Jiang said.
Jiang, also General Secretary of the Communist Party
of China (CPC) Central Committee, told the Japanese
delegation that party-to- party exchanges, including
the contacts between the CPC and the DPJ, have
contributed significantly to mutual understanding,
trust, and friendship between the two peoples and the
development of bilateral relations.
Jiang hopes the major Japanese political parties and
their leaders "will continue to proceed from the
overall Sino-Japanese friendship in the new century
and make further efforts for the long-term, stable,
and healthy development of relations between the two
countries."
Yukio said that he chose China as the first country
to visit each time he became the head of the DPJ,
adding that it shows "the great importance he
attaches to Japanese-China relations."
The history of contacts between Japan and China goes
back over 2,000 years, Yukio said, adding that "the
two countries have been friendly to each other most
of the time."
But Japan launched wars of aggression against China
in the 20th century and brought enormous tragedy to
the Chinese people, he said.
Yukio said that Japan should sincerely reflect on
history and face up to the facts of that period with
courage.
The DPJ agrees with the proposal of "taking history
as a mirror and facing the future" made by Jiang,
Yukio noted.
Yukio said that his party admires the achievements
made by China in its reform and opening up drive.
Yukio urged the two countries to further strengthen
economic cooperation, which is of great potential, so
as to contribute to the economic development in the
whole Asian region.
****
Wednesday, December 13, 2000, updated at 09:40(GMT+8)
Spain Police Arrest Russia Media Magnate Gusinsky
Spanish police have arrested Russian media magnate
Vladimir Gusinsky, wanted in his home country for
alleged embezzlement, a police spokesman said on
Tuesday.
Gusinsky was arrested in the southern beach resort of
Sotogrande, near the city of Cadiz, the spokesman
said.
Russian authorities issued an international arrest
warrant for the financier earlier in December after
he failed to appear for questioning in November.
****
Marching Toward New Goals: Commentary
At the advent of the new century, we are glad to see that important
progress has been made in the reform and difficulty relief of State-owned
enterprises (SOEs) through the common efforts of the upper and lower levels
of the whole Party, the objective of reforming SOEs and lifting them out of
difficulties in three years set forth by the Party Central Committee has by
and large been realized.
This achievement is of very important significance to ensuring the
sustained, rapid and sound development of the national economy, enhancing
the competitiveness and control force of the State-owned economy and
guaranteeing a good beginning of the 10th Five-year Plan for economic and
social development.
In the face of the new century and the 10th Five-year Plan, SOE reform and
development will also enter a new stage, we should continue to work in a
down-to-earth manner, make pioneering efforts to advance continuously
toward the new goal.
The target for SOE reform and difficulty relief in three years has been
basically realized, this is a hard-won achievement. It is the result of the
common efforts of the whole Party and the people of the whole country under
the correct leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Jiang
Zemin at the core; it is the result of the hard struggle and pioneering
efforts made by the general run of enterprise workers and staff members,
and the result of the all-out support extended by people on various fronts
and in various professions and trades.
The central authorities have adopted a proactive fiscal policy and a stable
monetary policy, and expanded domestic demands; raised the export refunding
rate, encouraged exports and boosted economic growth; cracked down on
smuggle and tax fraud, rectified market order, controlled arbitrary
collection of charge, indiscriminate fines and unchecked apportionment of
expenses from enterprises, thus improving enterprises' external
environment. All these measures have played an extremely important role in
the SOE reform and difficulty relief.
Various regions, departments and economic and trade commission at various
levels and the numerous enterprises have done a great deal of meticulous
work and made painstaking efforts to overcome mountains of difficulties.
The general run of employees have given active support to reform, and thus
made major contributions to enterprise reform and difficulty relief. In
this process, we have gained many valuable experiences, effective use of
these experiences is of important significance to accelerating SOE reform
and development during the new historical period.
In the face of this favorable economic situation, we should both reinforce
our confidence and be aware of difficulties and shortcomings. We should
realize that attainment of the goal of SOE reform and difficulty relief in
three years is only a phased achievement. Many deep-seated contradictions
and problems facing SOE reform and development have not yet been
fundamentally resolved and the foundation for eliminating difficulties is
not firm enough. While a batch of loss-making enterprises ending losses,
some new loss-incurring firms have emerged again.
The contradiction of the irrational economic structure has stood out, the
quality and efficiency of economic operation remain to be further improved.
In addition, along with China's accession to the World Trade Organization
(WTO), a group of enterprises failing to adapt to this new situation will
face the danger of going bankrupt. We must not take this lightly, instead,
we must do our level best and make great efforts to solve the problem step
by step.
The 10th Five-year Plan signifies a new period for China's economic
development and a new stage for SOE reform and development. For a period of
time to come, oriented toward the establishment of a modern enterprise
system, continued deepening of SOE reform and development remains a key
link in the structural reform of the entire economy.
Centered on improving economic returns, vigorously pushing forward the
strategic readjustment of the economic structure is the main line of the
entire economic work. We should vigorously accelerate the strategic
readjustment of State-owned economic layout and the reorganization of
State-owned enterprises, to ensure that we will have something done in our
advance, maintain order in our retreat, well-performed large enterprises
should be strong, and liberalized small enterprises be vigorous.
We should continue to implement the strategy for excellent and strong
enterprises, actively cultivate and develop a group of large company and
enterprise groups which have outstanding main businesses, hold independent
intellectual property rights, and boast strong core capabilities.
We should speed up the transformation of a standard corporate system,
perfect a legal person management structure, establish a modern enterprise
system and strive to make system innovation. These arduous tasks placed
before us must be well done before we can further successfully run
State-owned enterprises and enhance the competitiveness and control forces
of the State-owned economy.
The new century is soon to come, and the new five-year plan for China's
national economic development will also begin. In the new historical
period, as long as we work with concerted efforts of the upper and lower
levels, properly implement the strategic plan of the Party Central
Committee and the State Council, go all out and make explorations and
progress, State-owned enterprises will certainly be able to make still
greater contributions to the sustained, rapid and healthy development of
the national economy on the basis of the phased achievement gained in
reforming State-owned enterprises and getting them out of difficulties in
three years.
****
UNDP Satisfied with Forest-related Poverty Elimination Project A poverty
elimination project aided by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
has passed the appraisal of the UNDP and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and
Economic Cooperation.
The three-year project carried out in Hubei Province, central China, is the
first of its kind which aims at eliminating poverty through reforestation.
The forestation project, which started in 1998 for a term of three years,
has so far helped train 24,560 impoverished farmers in planting Chinese
fir, Japanese larch, Chinese chestnut, gingko and other economic trees in
an area of 245 hectares.
Local residents have seen their per-capita annual income rise from 790 yuan
(US$95) before the inauguration of the project to 1,050 yuan (US$126).
****
Conflict in Southern Serbia May Escalate, Yugoslav Military Warns The
Yugoslav military warned Monday, December 11, that if the international
community can not take steps immediately to settle the crisis in southern
Serbia, it may escalate the conflict there and undermine stability in the
entire region.
The UN Special Mission and the International Peacekeeping Force (KFOR) in
Kosovo province, southwestern Serbia, should be held responsible for the
worsening situation there because they have not carried out UN Resolution
1244 and a related military technical agreement, Svetozar Radissic,
spokesman for the Yugoslav military, told reporters in Belgrade.
Radissic accused the KFOR of failing to completely disarm and disband the
secessionist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and other terrorist groups in
Kosovo in light with the two documents.
He also accused the KFOR for failing to provide safety guarantee for the
refugees to return home, to create conditions for humanitarian work and to
prevent KLA fighters and terrorists from penetrating into the security zone
separating Kosovo and Serbia proper.
There were about 1,200 to 1,500 well-equipped ethnic Albanian militants in
the security zone, Radissic said, adding that they are continuing to take
provocative actions in an attempt to pull the Yugoslav military into the
conflict.
Since November 21, Albanian extremists have launched a series of attacks on
Serbian police in the security area, leaving casualties and increase
tension in the region.
The Serbian police authorities earlier issued an ultimatum to the ethnic
Albanian extremists, demanding an immediate truce in the area.
Meanwhile, Belgrade sent tanks and reinforced its troops and police force
near the conflict area.
_______________________________________________________
KOMINFORM
P.O. Box 66
00841 Helsinki - Finland
+358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081
e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.kominf.pp.fi
_______________________________________________________
Kominform list for general information.
Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Anti-Imperialism list for geopolitics.
Subscribe/unsubscribe messages:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
_______________________________________________________
