At the conclusion of the 1st Conference of Cooperation of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), in which representatives of 71 delegations exchanged in the Havana Ambassadors Hall of the Hotel Habana Libre, ACS Secretary General June Soomer thanked the opportunity Provided by Cuba as host country: "The Association is composed of small countries that do not have the possibility to meet, but Cuba has provided this space to meet both donors and member states." There are several projects for the benefit of the integral development of the region that were presented at the working session, proposals that deal with maritime-air transport and the confrontation with climate change. These issues are of concern to the governments and peoples of the great Caribbean Basin and are two of the essential axes of the ACS program for the period 2016-2018.
"This Forum has served to reaffirm the commitment of our countries to boost cooperation. We thank the experts who have made a valuable contribution, to international organizations and invited countries. We hope this will be the beginning of a fruitful link ", summarized for his part the Vice Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Ileana Núñez.
Of the seven projects proposed, four are related to environmental issues, given the organization's commitment to the preservation of the Caribbean Sea, and three are seeking solutions to the region's insufficient transportation capacities.
The impact of climate change on geography and the Caribbean ecosystem is an essential issue for the governments involved. ACS member countries, for the most part, have tourism and fisheries as their main economic sectors. Preserving the livelihoods and subsistence of its inhabitants is a cardinal theme in order to make the Caribbean sustainable.
The I Cooperation Conference was an opportunity to promote cooperation and encourage economic competitiveness in the Caribbean area and to "take actions to strengthen collective capacities in vital areas such as tourism, transport and mitigation of the effects of climate change", concluded The Cuban Vice Minister.
Cuba presented a project to strengthen the air-sea connection between the ACS countries. According to Pedro Suárez, specialist for Latin America of the Cuban Ministry of Transport, the national delegation presented the project "Port Maritime Strategy of the Greater Caribbean", designed to provide exporters and importers of the area and the world with all information on transportation services and Existing routes. "To move from one Caribbean island to another even though its geographical distance is small, it is complex, that is why we are working to establish a regional airline that provides direct connection service between countries in the area," said Suarez .
Likewise, the official stressed that the project also includes the modernization of port logistics in the Caribbean, but above all, aims to boost cooperation among member countries of the international body. Suárez confirmed that a total of 13 countries have so far signed the AEC's multilateral air transport agreement, which in civil aviation law makes the connections between the signatory states more flexible.
Since its establishment in July 1994, the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) has given priority to four areas of work, seeking greater cooperation in sectors such as trade, tourism, transport and disaster risk reduction.