Cuban Economy Minister Alejandro Gil said on Friday that increasing exports and correcting the deficiencies of the foreign investment process will be crucial for the country in 2020.

The latter issue is of total relevance, because there lies national economic development, added Gil, also a deputy prime minister, in an interview with Granma newspaper.

He insisted on strengthening State enterprise and increasing the supply of goods and services to the population.

In order to achieve that goal, he noted, productive linkages between the domestic industry and exporters must be fostered, imports in the tourist sector reduced, and links with the Mariel Special Development Zone broadened.

Gil called to transform the work of State enterprise to seek greater administration autonomy, ‘despite the financial and material restrictions that still exist.’

As he recently explained in Parliament, the Cuban economy grew 0.5% in 2019 and is expected to grow 1% in 2020.

‘We are talking about slight growth, which still doesn’t have an impact on quality of life, but we repeat that what is really significant is not having declined,’ he noted.

On the currency unification process, Gil explained that this is ‘in an advanced phase of study and approval, and the comprehensiveness and complexity of the process is confirmed.’