By John Burgess
Washington Post Staff Writer

The Cuban government has agreed to let Cuban entrepreneurs come to the United States for educational tours, a move that business executives here called a first
and an unusual sign of openness in the country's state-run economy.

A U.S. Chamber of Commerce group that visited Havana earlier this week reached agreement that the first delegations to come, likely in September, would be
restaurant owners and farmers producing for sale in Cuba's limited free markets, said Craig Johnstone, a chamber senior vice president who led the group.

The United States maintains a general trade embargo against Cuba, one of the world's few remaining communist countries. Cuba's President Fidel Castro does not
let Cuban citizens travel freely to the United States.

Many U.S. companies would like rights to trade with Cuba, saying such commerce would be profitable and foster openness and political change in the country.
Opponents, including many Cuban-American groups, contend that trade would only strengthen the Castro government.

Approving the visits to the United States is "a substantial step forward" by the Cuban government, said John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and
Economic Council, a business-sponsored group in New York.

Johnstone said visits to the United States by Cuban entrepreneur groups were "unheard of" and would represent "a level of accommodation to the private sector that
we certainly have been striving for almost a year to achieve."

Chamber chief executive Thomas Donohue visited Cuba last year, the first time that a chamber head had gone to Havana since Castro's revolution in 1959. After the
trip, in which he met with members of Cuba's small private sector, he said the United States should foster ties with this group whenever possible.

Cuba's economy remains largely state-run, but in certain sectors, such as restaurants and bicycle repair shops, the government allows free enterprise. Kavulich said
there are about 150,000 private enterprises in Cuba today.

The Cubans would come here in groups of about 25, including members of the government-affiliated Cuban Chamber of Commerce. They would visit training
facilities, restaurants and farms in programs set up by the U.S. Chamber.

The visits would follow ones to Cuba last March by 150 members of a U.S. private enterprise group, the Young Entrepreneurs Organization. Members of the
Alexandria-based group met with Cuban officials and entrepreneurs in such fields as crafts, as well as with foreigners who are investing in tourist-trade enterprises in
Cuba.

Johnstone said yesterday that Cuban officials had also expressed willingness during this week's trip to talk with individual U.S. companies about settlement of claims
relating to the Castro government's confiscation of U.S. property after it came to power four decades ago.

Officials indicated that settlements could come in advance of any eventual deal to normalize relations with the United States, Johnstone said.

The U.S. government has certified more than 5,900 U.S. companies and individuals as having claims against the Cuban government, amounting to about $1.7 billion.
The Cuban government has conducted discussions with companies in the past over this issue, but with scant results.