Cuba advocates strengthening multilateralism and solidarity

HAVANA, Cuba, May 9 (ACN) Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, Cuban foreign minister, called today for strengthening multilateralism and solidarity cooperation, and assured that it will continue to share its experiences with other nations.

During his speech at the High-Level Meeting of the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative, announced by Chinese president Xi Jinping before the United Nations General Assembly, the Cuban diplomat stressed that the proposal is inclusive and consistent with the need for a new fair and equitable international order.

Rodriguez Parrilla's speech, published on the foreign ministry's website, points out that the initiative has the great merit of placing development where it belongs, at the heart of the international system's priorities.

Cuban FM underlined that the COVID-19 pandemic showed the devastating effects of an unjust and undemocratic international order, which led to a small minority of the world's richest people to increase their fortunes, while hundreds of millions of people fell into poverty and extreme poverty.

The Cuban head of foreign affairs reflected that the responsibility of developed countries to support the efforts of the rest of the nations in terms of sustainable development cannot be postponed or diminished; and added: it is a historical debt after centuries of plundering and colonization.

He described as vital the mobilization of additional financial resources, fair access to them by developing countries, the promotion of North-South cooperation, technology transfer, capacity building, and a more active role of developed countries in the fight against climate change.

In this regard, he noted that Cuba has faced the impact of a criminal economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States for more than 60 years, a policy that has been tightened in an opportunistic manner, to unprecedented levels in the context of the pandemic.

The time for action is today; our people have had to wait too long to realize their genuine aspirations for development, Rodriguez Parrilla concluded.