Cuban Minister presides Cuban delegation to the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States

Elba Rosa Perez Montoya, Minister of Science, Technology and Environment, presided the Cuban delegation that participated in the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States, which took place in this capital between the 1st and the 4th of September.

The delegation also included Maria del Carmen Herrera Caseiro, Ambassador of Cuba to New Zealand, also concurrent Ambassador to the Republic of Fiji, the Cook Islands, the Independent State of Samoa, the Kingdom of Tonga, Tuvalu and the Republic of Kiribati; Dr. Jose Rubiera, Director of the Forecast Centre of the National Institute of Meteorology; and Ana Silvia Rodriguez Abascal and Mayte Masot Planas, officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, respectively.

The Minister and the accompanying delegation also participated in a number of side events that took place within the framework of the Conference. At the same time, the high-ranking Cuban official represented the country at the meeting of leaders of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), in which a Declaration, endorsing the group’s positions on the Conference’s topics was adopted. Meanwhile, the Cuban Minister undertook an extensive programme of bilateral meetings.

The holding of this Conference is the result of the mandate given by the United Nation’s Member States during the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio +20), to follow up the Conferences of Small Island Developing States held in Barbados in 1994 and in Mauritius in 2005.

During the Conference, the Member States assessed the progress to date; as well as the challenges and remaining gaps in the implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action and the Mauritius Strategy. Calls for renewed political commitment by all countries to effectively address the special needs and vulnerabilities of small island developing states were made.

Cuba's participation in this event reaffirmed the commitment of our country with the implementation of sustainable development, while it served to expose the impacts of climate change on the island and the actions that have been developed by the Cuban government to meet the challenges of this phenomenon.