Cuban Ambassador José Manuel Galego Montano was received at the Foreign Ministry by the new Permanent Secretary of the Fijian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Raijieli Taga, with whom he held a fruitful and enjoyable exchange on bilateral relations and multilateral support between the two countries.
Galego expressed his gratitude for Fiji's vote in favor of the resolution "Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial, and Financial Blockade Imposed by the United States of America Against Cuba," approved year after year by almost all UN Member States. The ambassador referred to the intensified blockade policy and the condemnation by many governments of Cuba's inclusion on the so-called list of state sponsors of terrorism, drawn up by Washington to continue its policy of "regime change" toward Havana.
Galego also discussed the cooperation Cuba provides to Fiji and the possibilities of continuing to expand it to other issues and needs raised by the Fijian side.
For her part, Dr. Taga acknowledged the important collaboration Cuba has provided to Fiji in the health sector and praised the fact that young Fijians have received scholarships to study medicine and are currently working in hospitals in various regions of Fiji. She also agreed to seek alternatives to continue exploring possibilities for expanding mutually beneficial cooperative relations.
The Republic of Cuba and the Republic of Fiji established diplomatic relations on July 19, 2002, and in 2017, the Cuban Embassy in Suva was opened, which also serves 11 other countries: Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Micronesia, and Tonga.