Cuba is studying the easing of restrictions on its nationals who want to
travel abroad, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque has said.
Mr Perez Roque made the remarks at a meeting with representatives from
Cuban emigre organisations in Havana.
Cubans currently have to obtain a government permit to travel overseas.
President Raul Castro, who took over from brother Fidel last month, has
vowed to keep Cuba's socialist system but also promised some changes.
"We are firmly committed to making relations between Cubans living
abroad and their families in Cuba more and more fluid, and making the
rules and paperwork more expedient," said Mr Perez Roque.
Cubans need a letter of invitation to travel and must pay a fee of
several hundred dollars to obtain an exit permit, either to leave
permanently or on visits.
Cubans living abroad also need government approval to return.
The issue of normalising relations was "continual and irreversible", Mr
Perez Roque told a meeting of more than 100 Cubans who had travelled
from overseas for discussions with officials.
The event was a chance to exchange views and to "improve co-ordination
and communication" among us, Mr Perez Roque said.
The meeting was also a chance to discuss ways of combating the US
economic embargo on Cuba, he added.
According to the minister, the main obstacle to completely normal ties
is the US policy that limits Cubans living there to one visit to Cuba
every three years.
"I came to listen," Max Lesnick, who has lived in exile in Miami since
1961, told Reuters.
"I see a climate of change and a policy of gradual changes here, and I
think Cubans who live abroad should be watching events here closely."
Hotels
More than 1.3 million Cubans live abroad, most in the US. A record
193,000 expatriate Cubans visited the island in 2007.
Thousands try to leave illegally, the vast majority heading for Florida
which is home to the biggest Cuban community outside the island.
The Cuban government has long attacked Washington's policy that allows
Cubans who manage to reach US territory to stay.
In another move, the Cuban authorities have announced plans to build
some 30 new hotels on the island by 2010, as part of a major expansion
of tourist accommodation.
Income from tourism is of major importance to the Cuban economy,
generating some $2bn (£990m) annually.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7306250.stm
Published: 2008/03/20 12:08:58 GMT
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