Havana, December 31, (RHC), – Cuban vice-president Jose Ramon Machado Ventura is heading the island´s delegation to the inauguration ceremony of Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, to take place January 1.

The Cuban delegation also includes deputy foreign minister Rogelio Sierra and deputy health minister Marcia Cobas, plus the Cuban ambassador to Brazil Marielena Ruiz, Granma newspaper reported.

Dilma Rousseff will begin her second term as president of Brazil on January 1 with the challenge of a stagnant economic growth in the context of a global economic crisis.

Rousseff has said the government would continue ensuring high levels of employment and the recovery of wages, curbing inflation and fulfilling responsibility in the fiscal field. “We will give more impetus to economic activity in all sectors, particularly in the industrial sector,” she said. “I want a partnership of all segments, sectors, productive and financial areas, and this task is a responsibility of each of us.

Rousseff also pledged to carry out political reform, crack down on corruption and end impunity with stricter legislation.