Cuba approved the import of vehicles, mopeds and motorbikes and electric tricycles for the modernisation of transport, the head of this sector, Eduardo Rodríguez, said today.

In the first case, the authorisation will benefit collaborators and diplomatic personnel on missions abroad, based on their foreign currency income, and in accordance with the regulations to be drawn up by the governing body of the transport activity, the minister said.

Rodríguez told Cuban television news that the policy allows all Cuban nationals to import low-capacity (250 cc) internal combustion cycle engines and motorbikes, in response to a request from the population.

The minister also informed that travellers will be able to bring into the country an electric tricycle, «preferably with solar panels, with preferential tariffs so that the burden of the equipment does not fall on the national electro-energy system».

The new policy maintains the provisions of the current resolution on the import of cycle engines and electric motorbikes, said the head of the sector.

According to Rodríguez, these decisions benefit a small sector of the population with the possibility of importing these means and the community, as the latter will benefit from the tax revenues applied to these imports.

Part of this revenue will go to a special fund administered by the ministry, which will allow a more stable process of recovery of public transport and its infrastructure to begin, with priority given to charging stations for electric vehicles, he said.

The measures announced, said the minister, favour the development of the industry, the change of the national energy matrix, road safety, from the improvement of the technical condition of the vehicle fleet, and offer alternatives for the mobility of passengers and cargo.