Cuba to Host Interregional Workshop on Sustainable Development

 UNESCO and the Jose Marti Chairs at the University of Havana announced the Interregional Workshop on Exchange and Cooperation, a sustainable development forum scheduled for January 2019.

The event will be held from January 29 to 31 at Havana's Convention Center, with the confirmed participation of researchers and experts from Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Uruguay and Spain.

The director of UNESCO's Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean, Katherine Müller, explained that the workshop's goal is to foster reciprocal collaboration between the two Chairs.

The event will help the introduction of new teaching programs and the analysis of new ideas through research and the enrichment of cultural diversity.

The official stressed that through this workshop, Higher Education and research institutions will pool their resources to advance towards meeting the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development Goals, approved in September 2015 at the United Nations.

The importance of expanding the Cuban network of schools associated with the international organization, currently 76, through new actions to train and prepare university students will be among the subjects to be debated.

Müller also explained that the Unitwin program and the UNESCO Chairs will play a key role during the forum.

'It is an essential tool to contribute to capacity-building in higher education institutions through knowledge-sharing and international solidarity,' she said.

The Unitwin program gathers more than 700 institutions in 116 countries and supports the implementation of issues related to UNESCO's fields of competence, education, natural and social sciences, culture and communication.

Martha del Carmen Mesa, vice minister for Higher Education, told Prensa Latina that the role of the governmental agency in the growth of chairs and the advancement of projects fosters inter-university ties.

She added these networks and chairs are centers for reflection and to build bridges between academic circles, civil society, local communities and researchers.

'The Chairs Program in Cuba is an intersectoral platform and needs these opportunities to exchange experiences and acquire new practices from several countries in the region,' Mesa noted.

UNESCO recently drafted its five-year work plan for Cuba, which includes contributions on issues such as sustainable economic development, food security and environmental sustainability.