国际英语新闻：Raul Castro calls on Cubans to "openly discuss" economic reforms

HAVANA, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Cuban leader Raul Castro has encouraged Cubans to "openly discuss without worry or concern" their opinions on the "upgrade of the national economy."

Castro referred to the national debates on economic adjustment measures while visiting Cuba's Jewish Community House to attend the Hanukkah, or "Festival of Lights" celebrations, broadcast on official television Monday.

The Cuban leader said he defended the "permanent debate of ideas, because that's where the best solutions come from." He asked the Cuban people "not to worry about expressing their differences that they deem appropriate" in his brief speech at the Beth Shalom synagogue.

During the meeting with the Jewish community in Cuba, Castro was invited to light the first Hanukkah candle, and recalled former Cuban leader Fidel Castro's participation in the feast of Hanukkah on Dec. 20, 1998.

Wearing a traditional Jewish head covering called "kippah," the current Cuban leader said he is satisfied because "the train is starting to move," referring to the debates on the economic reform plan.

The large-scale discussions on economic reforms began on Dec. 1 and will run for three months until the Sixth Congress of the ruling Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) in April 2011, which is held every five years and has been postponed since 1997 without any public explanations.

At the congress, the guidelines of the economic and social policy for the next five years will be discussed. These guidelines are expected to help Cuba overcome the serious crisis affecting the island for years. Fidel Castro is also expected to participate.

The government is taking measures to make the economy more efficient by ending state paternalism, opening space for private enterprises and foreign investment, and by promoting urban production and service cooperatives.

Since taking office in 2007, Raul Castro has repeatedly advocated a restructuring of the Cuban economic model to make better use of human and material resources and strengthen the national economy, which has been weakened by the global financial crisis and the U.S. embargo.

"Upgrading the Cuban economic model is a local act, which is adjusted to the national features, and without giving up socialist construction," the Cuban leader said about the new economic model. "We are not copying the model of any other country."

The main issue will be the economic changes needed to "upgrade" the Cuban economic model, Rauo Castro said. Social affairs will be debated in another conference before the end of the year.