Cuba and CARICOM strengthen ties amid Covid-19

Havana, December  8 (RHC)-- Representatives of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Cuba will virtually review their relations and opportunities to strengthen ties on Tuesday.

The 7th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the CARICOM-Cuba mechanism will analyze the region's main problems and the confrontation with the Covid-19 in a year marked by the pandemic effects.

The context gives particular relevance to the usual meeting, said Rogelio Sierra, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, in a recent press conference held in Havana.

According to the diplomat, the meeting is focused on joining efforts in the face of the challenges of the moment, including the Covid-19, the economic crisis, and other issues such as climate change and the development of countries.

Health, education, human resource training, sports, culture, energy, and agriculture are also on the agenda.

For the first time, Cuba has health professionals in all the member states of the bloc and five non-independent territories in the Caribbean, said Eugenio Martínez, director-general of Latin America and the Caribbean of the Cuban Foreign Ministry on the social network Twitter.

The meeting coincides with the 40th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties between Cuba and Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and Jamaica, the first Caribbean states to adopt this decision.

The CARICOM-Cuba Summit takes place every three years, and the segment of foreign affairs ministers takes place between each one of them, which shows the high dynamism of the relations.

The most recent meeting was held in Antigua and Barbuda with the participation of then Cuban president, Raúl Castro.

CARICOM integrated by Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, and Suriname.