In a bid to trim the bureaucracy, Cuban leader Raul Castro has created a new ministry and transformed another, the official daily Granma reported Thursday.

Castro established the Ministry of Industry by merging the agencies formerly in charge of iron, steel, chemical and light industries, and transformed the Ministry of Basic Industry into the Ministry of Energy and Mines as part of changes that were announced last Friday at a meeting of the Council of Ministers chaired by him, according to the report.

"The measure is the first step towards gradually reducing the number of administrative bodies and agencies," with the goal to "provide the country with a more integrated government structure, and ensure more rational and efficient operations by reducing all unnecessary expenses," it said.

While Castro decided to revive the former Ministry of Industry originally founded by legendary Argentine-Cuban revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara in 1962, he has yet to designate a minister for it.

The new Ministry of Energy and Mines will oversee oil, electric power and mining, and its creation coincides with the start of drilling by Spanish oil company Repsol-YPF in Cuba's Exclusive Economic Zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

Since coming into power in February 2008, Raul Castro has embarked on a campaign to simplify government infrastructure and reduce bureaucracy.

Pushing to modernize the public sector, he opened key industries to foreign investment, including tourism, oil and mining. He has also encouraged private sector employment and reduced the workforce of bloated state-run companies by half a million.

Castro has in addition lifted bans that prevented Cubans from purchasing homes and cars, and contracting cell phone services, among other popular measures.