EU supports Cuba’s efforts to guarantee the right to food

Since December 2016 saw the official end of the European Union’s so-called Common Position against Cuba, assumed under pressure from the United States in the 1990s, the European bloc and the Caribbean nation have maintained a fruitful relationship.

In fact, years earlier, the Greatest of the Antilles and several of the EU member states had regained their economic and social ties and the so-called Common Position became somewhat meaningless.

In the last decade there have been numerous bilateral exchanges and meetings, while the European Union has allocated more than 200 million euros to support Cuba’s development.

Three sectors to which the Cuban authorities devote special attention have received the support of the European mechanism: sustainable agriculture and food security, the environment and climate change, and the modernisation of the country.

And precisely one more step along the road to cooperation between both parties, this week a new program was signed in Havana to support the development of resilient and sustainable food systems in our territory.

The initiative, which is accompanied by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), will be developed up to 2025 in six municipalities of Sancti Spíritus and Villa Clara, and at central level, with a total amount of 19 million 950 thousand euros.

The project seeks to sustainably increase the production of quality food to respond to local demand, specifically through the application of innovative approaches, environmental and climate resilient.

FAO’s representative in Cuba, Marcelo Resende, said the programme will help ensure people’s right to food, a priority of the revolutionary government and recognized in the new Constitution of Cuba, in force since April of this year.

The agreement confirms the statement made last September in Havana by Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, who assured that Europe is very committed to development in Latin America and the Caribbean, and especially Cuba.

(Taken from RHC in Spanish)

Written by Radio Grito de Baire