St. Mary, Antigua and Barbuda- Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Youth, Sports and Culture, Patrick Faber last week represented Belize at the Sixth CARICOM Cuba Summit held in Antigua and Barbuda.
The Summit, which is held every three years, took stock of the cooperation between Cuba and CARICOM and in particular received reports on the progress of two regional projects: Caribbean Regional School of Arts project and the Regional Centre for the Stimulation of the Development in Children, Adolescents and Young People in Jamaica and the Special Educational Needs Associated with Disabilities in Guyana.
Heads also welcomed the recently signed Second Protocol to the CARICOM-Cuba Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement and discussed concrete ways to boost trade and investment between the region and Cuba. In this respect, Deputy Prime Minister Faber called for redoubling of efforts on the trade facilitation aspect to surmount some of the current challenges — in logistics, transportation, and banking facilities — that continue to hinder the successful trade and investment between CARICOM and Cuba.
During the Summit, the Deputy Prime Minister signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Multi-Destination Tourism between CARICOM Member States and the Government of Cuba, which lays the framework for greater collaboration between Cuba and CARICOM Member States in developing multi-destination tourism packages.
Additionally, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and the National General Staff of the Civil Defense of the Republic of Cuba in matters of disaster risk reduction, through which the region hopes to learn from the exemplary disaster preparedness, response and recovery system in Cuba.