CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

International Meeting of Economists Concluded in Havana

CUBA, March 7, 2009. Over 1,000 economists and experts from 52 nations of the world closed the 11th International Encounter on Globalization and Development Problems after analyzing alternative solutions to today's world economic crisis and its impact on Third World Nations.

The delegates at the forum agreed to send a message to Miguel D Escoto, president of the UN General Assembly, asking him for a deep and rigorous analysis of the crisis, a redesign of the world economic order and the restructuring of the current financial system.

During the final session of the gathering, the president of the Cuban Association of Economists and Accountants, Roberto Verrier, referred to the intense analysis carried out by participants about the world economic crisis, he said the diagnosis of the issue has been concluded, while initiatives are now to be taken. He explained that there is lack of solutions since the whole body of the world economy is ill.

Verrier stressed the participation in the forum of the heads of state of Honduras Manuel Zelaya and of the Dominican Republic Leonel Fernandez, as well as the attendance by several ministers from Asian and Latin American nations, who put forth their country's efforts aimed at developing societies where solidarity prevails over market policies and the law of humankind over the law of the jungle.

The expert also praised regional initiatives like the creation of the Bank of the South, a project for a regional currency and the social missions taking place in countries like Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and other nations.

“The only way out of the capitalist crisis is the very way out of capitalism,“ stressed Verrier and he noted that all roads lead socialism.

During the final day, the delegates sent a letter to US President Barack Obama asking him to lift the economic, financial and commercial blockade of Cuba and to intercede for the freedom of the five Cuban antiterrorist fighters held in US prisons for over 10 years now.

In that respect, Leonard Weinglass, with the defense team of the five Cubans, briefed delegates about the unprecedented total of 12 Amicus briefs filed with the US Supreme Court to revise the case of Fernando Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramón Labañino, René Gonzalez and Antonio Guerrero, known as the Cuban Five.

The final session of the meeting was presided over by Cuban Economy Minister Marino Murillo along with Finance and Prices Minister Lina Pedraza, Audit and Control Minister Gladys Bejerano and the President of the Central Bank of Cuba, Francisco Soberon.

The 12th International Gathering will take place March 1-5, 2010. (Cubaminrex - ACN)

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