The leadership of the Party, Government, and State reaffirmed their "full confidence in the capacity of the Cuban socialist state enterprise system to contribute to the country what the country needs, and it is you who will be at the forefront of this process, so let us transform ourselves and we will move forward."

This was stated by the First Secretary of the Party's Central Committee and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, during a meeting with more than thirty business leaders from this sector, whose entities stand out for their results in applying the economic measures adopted by the country in recent years and now lead the implementation of the 176 Economic and Social Transformations.

The exchange, held at the Palace of the Revolution, was also led by Politburo members Manuel Marrero Cruz, Prime Minister; Roberto Morales Ojeda, Organization Secretary of the Party's Central Committee; and Salvador Valdés Mesa, Vice President of the Republic; Deputy Prime Minister Inés María Chapman Waugh also attended, along with other leaders.

Moderated by Roberto Ricardo Marrero, president of the National Institute of State Enterprise Assets, the meeting served to delve into the results being achieved by entities within the socialist state enterprise system and to address their strengths, threats, and challenges.

ON THE RIGHT TRACK

The National Apiculture Enterprise bore witness to the good practices that many state-sector entrepreneurs have been able to establish, arriving at the current process after successfully implementing a large portion of previously granted powers.

Its director general, Alberto Vicente Águila Abreus, outlined the extensive debate that the 176 transformations have generated at all levels of the group. He explained that they have been analyzed in labor collectives, and workers have made contributions based on the characteristics and experience of their sector.

The apiculture group is a business conglomerate that has taken previous flexibilization measures seriously, as evidenced by the financing scheme it has applied for a year, with results that have allowed it to advance its management, including timely payments to producers.

These transformations, explained one of the base directors of the National Apiculture Enterprise, have been assumed not only as a structural change but also as a tool to obtain better results, favor more efficient production, and generate greater income—both for companies and workers—while fulfilling their social responsibility in the communities where they operate, as well as in social centers and other areas.

The president of the Agricultural Logistics Business Group (GELMA), Wilson Ramírez Peña, detailed the implementation of the transformations in an activity present in most of the country's municipalities.

Rodríguez Peña observed that the transformations, which represent a radical change, have generated doubts at the grassroots level, hence the importance of actively fostering exchanges of opinions and experiences to achieve greater understanding and comprehension among labor collectives.

Oscar Carvajal Serrano, director general of the Mitrans Automotive Group, described the work carried out in this entity based on the flexibilities granted, which now reach a new level with the transformations. He exemplified that this year none of its enterprises will end with losses, and they will grow in contributions and profits.

"Today we can say," he noted, "that our enterprises have no obstacles to move forward, and we are in a position to resolve problems. And the transformations," he emphasized, "are the leap to start moving forward; although," he clarified, "difficulties will not be resolved overnight, so we must work hard."

The meeting between Díaz-Canel and representatives of the Cuban socialist state enterprise system included executives from higher business management organizations, enterprises, state-owned MSMEs, and base business units.

Representatives from the most diverse sectors spoke about good practices and results of their work and the implementation of the transformations, including LABIOFAM, the hydraulics sector, and the electronics industry, among others.

It was an exchange that can be summarized in the words of Edel Gómez Gómez, director general of the Camilo Cienfuegos industrial electronics enterprise, for whom the 176 economic and social transformations "allow us to place ourselves on equal footing with the rest of the economic actors."

"This," he said, "is what the socialist state enterprise has always asked for, and although we had been making transformations, what these do is remove obstacles, remove barriers, and allow us to advance more quickly in creating the wealth we need at this time."

WITH WORKER PARTICIPATION

In concluding the exchange, the First Secretary of the Party's Central Committee and President of the Republic recalled that days earlier he had held a meeting with representatives of the non-state business sector to learn how they were assimilating the transformations and their opinions and doubts about them.

He commented that these meetings will be held systematically, although the next ones will be with the Cuban business sector—state, non-state, and cooperative—"so that we gradually integrate as that unified business system conceived in our economic and social model," he stated.

Regarding the 176 Economic and Social Transformations, grouped into 23 thematic axes, he explained that a significant portion already has the legal certainty provided by norms and laws, which are being published in the Official Gazette; however, he added, no one has to wait for the norms to design the implementation of the transformations in their enterprises.

He commented that a group of enterprises—the most entrepreneurial—already have those designs, and now, with the issuance of regulations, they are in a better position to advance further. "They were bold, and therefore now have a clearer path," he affirmed.

He also called for conveying information, orientations, and other references to grassroots structures, especially the dependencies of national entities in the territories, so that they can prepare to carry out the transformations.

Along the same line of thought, Díaz-Canel underscored the urgency of changing management and business administration styles, because—he recalled—we must realize that everything must be done with worker participation.

He indicated that special attention should be paid to two important moments occurring in the remainder of the year within labor collectives: the discussion of the 176 Economic and Social Transformations and the preparation of the 2027 Plan.

Regarding the debates on the Economic and Social Transformations, he guided that this must be a moment to give the most important participation to workers, because—he reiterated—"if workers do not make the transformations their own, there will be no transformation."

The transformations, he emphasized, entail a continuous process. For example, a worker may present something better than what is proposed, and that will be taken into account, processed, and implemented; at the same time, "the very progress of implementation will tell us things we need to correct along the way, and who better than workers to notice these things."

On the conception of the 2027 Plan, Díaz-Canel spoke of the need for this year's plan to definitively emerge from the grassroots, with worker participation, because—he reflected—"if we have given full autonomy, then let workers say how, by exercising that autonomy and applying the transformations, we can boost the activity of our socialist state enterprise."

The First Secretary of the Party's Central Committee also critically observed that in some places, leaders are emphasizing, above all, the salary increases that the transformations should lead to, forgetting that it is about paying wages linked to productive output and wealth creation.

OUR MAIN ECONOMIC ACTOR

In his address to representatives of the socialist state enterprise system, the First Secretary of the Party's Central Committee and President of the Republic analyzed the strengths, opportunities, threats, and challenges of this sector in confronting and moving forward in the current moment.

He pointed out that if there is one sector that needs to embrace the transformations and allow these transformations to change it and impact the country's economic and social life, it is this one—the socialist state enterprise system, our main economic actor.

Referring to how the socialist state enterprise system must function amid the economic war imposed upon us, Díaz-Canel detailed that "we must achieve productive sovereignty, we must promote the interconnection of all economic actors, and we must take advantage of the political will that exists in the country, in the Party, in the Government, in all institutions, so that the socialist state enterprise system moves forward and contributes to the country what it ought to contribute."