The Hon. Maxine McClean, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, opened the celebration activities of both dates with Cuban Ambassador, Francisco Fernandez, which consisted of a panel discussion that addressed the historical and current context from many angles, followed by a cocktail party attended by Barbadian government officials, representatives of the business sector and civil society organizations, community of Cuban residents, members of the diplomatic corps and UN agencies and CARICOM resident in Barbados. The event, which was held in the Conference Room of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), was encouraged by the excellent performance of music students from Barbados Community College.
In his opening speech the Chancellor highlighted the excellent state of bilateral relations, which have had an increasing development in these four decades, both in the areas of cooperation and regional and multilateral political cooperation. He also stressed the importance of the links established by CARICOM member countries with Cuba, which have been refined through the completion of the Summit of Heads of State and Government.
In thanking the words of the Minister, the Ambassador paraphrased the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, who recognized as a courageous act and visionary decision of the leaders of the first four independent Caribbean countries to restore diplomatic relations full with Cuba in 1972, during a difficult time of the Cold War, breaking the isolation imposed by the US. He mentioned several relevant aspects that give content to the relations in the fields of culture, sports, health and more recently in business.
Referring to the close ties with CARICOM, cited the existence of cooperation agreements with 14 Member States, the presence of 1, 400 Cuban collaborators in the region (3,800 to date), 836 Caribbean students in Cuba (more than 5,000 graduates to date) and several projects of regional interest in various stages of completion.