The Ambassador of Cuba to Ghana, Pedro Luis Despaigne González, was interviewed at the Embassy of Cuba by journalists Mr. Chris Koney and Mrs. Chrissie Osei, members of the Business and Financial Times newspaper's staff.
In a pleasant exchange, both journalists interacted with the Ambassador of Cuba, addressing aspects of Ghana-Cuba diplomatic relations; the just concluded official visit to Cuba of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Mrs. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey; the health collaboration between Cuba and Ghana; the relations between the United States of America and Cuba.
The Cuban Ambassador explained to the interviewers that the greatest obstacle to the development of Cuba is the imposition, against the world's will, of the criminal and genocidal blockade that for more than fifty-five years, successive US governments have imposed on the Cuban people, and also to third countries. With regard to the collaboration between Cuba and Ghana, he highlighted the role of doctors and other Cuban health workers, whose first group arrived in Ghana in 1983.
At another moment of the interview, he commented on other forms of collaboration such as the one developed by the LABIOFAM enterprise in fighting malaria in Ghana, and about the graduation in Cuban classrooms of more than a thousand Ghanaians in different technical and university specialties. He also explained that in 2019 more than 200 young Ghanaians will return from Cuba with their diplomas of doctors.
Before the question referred to professional training, the Ambassador explained to his interlocutors that thanks to the educational system implemented by the Cuban Revolution, he, like all Cubans, has had and will have the right to attend freely at all levels of the Cuba's education system, including the postgraduate one.
The duo of journalists became interested in the possibility of exchanging with Cuba in terms of traditional fashions and costumes. With regard to that aspect, the Ambassador expressed his admiration for the showy of the traditional Ghanaian costumes, called kente.
Mr. Koney is an experienced journalist, who has in his professional curriculum conducting interviews with a large number of diplomats accredited in Ghana. Ms. Osei is in charge of the fashion section of the Business and Financial Times.