New York, 5 February 2020. Cuba celebrated today the adoption of the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) Country Programme for Cuba, after it was adopted by consensus by the Members States of the Executive Board of the United Nations Programme for Development, the United Nations Population Fund and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS).
Cuban Ambassador Oscar León González, Chargé d'Affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations, stated that Cuba has a development model that ensures the well-being of its population in terms of health, social security and education, which has been incorporated into the economic and social policies adopted by the State for development. He added that the Cuban population enjoys high levels of life expectancy, which is steadily increasing, making Cuba a country with an extreme ageing process, an issue that requires special attention.
He explained that the Country Programme Document for Cuba is the result of a broad participatory process, under the leadership of the national authorities and in close collaboration with the UNFPA Representative in our country, and the Resident Coordinator. In addition, he expressed that the document is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework agreed between Cuba and the United Nations System.
This was demonstrated by considerations of the Office of the Resident Coordinator in Cuba, reflected in the 2019 Report of the Secretary-General on the Blockade, indicating that the restrictions imposed by the blockade inflict critical difficulties on the implementation of UN programmes and projects, particularly on the acquisition and purchase of humanitarian and development products, even if they are acquired through multilateral cooperation.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations