Cuban minister exchanges with journalists specializing in science and technology

Eduardo Martinez Diaz, Cuban Minister of Science, Technology and Environment (Citma by its Spanish acronym) held in Havana a fruitful meeting with members of the Science and Technical Journalism Committee of the Cuban Journalists Association (UPEC by its Spanish acronym).

With the presence also of Armando Rodriguez Batista, deputy head of the body, and Francisco Rodriguez Cruz, vice president of UPEC, the exchange lasted about three hours on Thursday on a diversity of issues, mainly on the existing ways to strengthen work links, access to sources of information and professional training.

The group has been headed since 2005 by Orfilio Pelaez Mendoza, Granma newspaper, and those attending the debate of national and provincial press agencies, based in Havana, agreed on the need to reestablish the call for the Gilberto Caballero in Memoriam Contest of Scientific Journalism, whose last edition took place in 2020.

An issue that also attracted everyone's attention was the need to help speed up the gathering of specialized information in order to promote the diffusion of national priorities in science, technology and innovation as a form of government management.

The same occurred with the training of the members of the group with the purpose of keeping them updated, rejuvenation, increase of affiliates, creation of editorial offices in each center and the study of the new Social Communication Law.

In turn, Martinez Diaz expressed the willingness of his body to implement the shared initiatives in a path that must be built jointly and proposed new meetings, where specific actions will be proposed to materialize the common aspiration of achieving a greater presence of science issues in the media, both traditional and social networks.

He reaffirmed that science is the formula to overcome the complex situation of the Cuban economy, due to the international situation and the coercive measures of the US government.

The priorities are focused on key sectors of the economy and society and will be managed through Strategic Government Projects, which will initially target the increase of foreign currency income from the export of goods and services, he said.

The list of national priorities includes the generation of electric energy through the installation of solar photovoltaic and wind farms, in line with the state policy of changing the energy matrix.

He pointed out the immediate implementation of technologies to produce animal feed that would favor the increase of pork and egg meat, and the rise in milk and beef production levels.

The creation of the UPEC's Scientific Journalism Society dates back to 1980, coinciding with the joint Cuba-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics space flight for a week in the Soyuz 38 spacecraft aboard which Yuri Romanenko and Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez traveled. The latter became the first Cuban and Latin American pilot-cosmonaut.