PRINTER'S NO. 1218
No. 109 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY DIVEN, MAYERNIK, COSTA, FRANKEL, READSHAW AND
WALKO, MARCH 20, 2001
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
MARCH 20, 2001
A RESOLUTION
1 Welcoming Cuban dignitaries visiting this Commonwealth and
2 promoting friendship and peace between the Commonwealth and
3 Cuba.
4 WHEREAS, On June 1, 1999, by Presidential Order food sales
5 were allowed on a case-by-case basis to nongovernmental entities
6 in Cuba and on October 28, 2000, under legislation signed and
7 approved by the Congress of the United States which became law,
8 an exemption was made to allow food and medicine sales to Cuba,
9 which was a first since sanctions against Cuba were imposed in
10 1962; and
11 WHEREAS, The Commonwealth is home to the United States
12 headquarters for the US-Cuba Sister Cities Association, a
13 nonprofit 501c3 organization whose mission is to foster sister-
14 city relationships and understanding through mutually beneficial
15 exchanges between individuals, community groups, organizations
16 and institutions in the United States with their counterparts in
17 Cuba, by establishing proactive, people-to-people interaction
18 between the Republic of Cuba and the United States; and
1 WHEREAS, The Commonwealth has already consummated official
2 ties between the City of Pittsburgh and Matanzas and the City of
3 Philadelphia and Cardenas, both of which are located in the
4 province of Matanzas; and
5 WHEREAS, The City of Pittsburgh on March 24, 2001, is hosting
6 an official delegation of Cuban representatives consisting of
7 Cuban government officials, educators, medical doctors, artisans
8 and farmers, to further the effort of friendship, peace and
9 economic opportunities between these two nations; and
10 WHEREAS, With the Commonwealth's leading industry in
11 agriculture and with its world-class, cutting-edge medical and
12 research facilities, this interaction serves a twofold purpose
13 of providing humanitarian assistance to our neighbor as well as
14 cultivating a vast untapped market for the Commonwealth's
15 agriculture and medical products which are allowed under United
16 States laws; therefore be it
17 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives extend its
18 heartfelt welcome to the Cuban dignitaries who are visiting; and
19 be it further
20 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives extend its hand
21 in friendship, peace and economic opportunities in establishing
22 a sister-state relation with the province of Matanzas, Cuba, and
23 look forward to sending a delegation to Cuba to experience
24 firsthand the benefits of people-to-people interaction.
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