Cuba Denounces US Blockade at Water Conference

Havana, March 22 (ACN) Cuba’s Deputy Prime Minister Ines Maria Chapman denounced at the UN Water Conference the impact of the over-6-year US economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba.

The US hostile policy is the main obstacle for Cuba to reach better results and access foreign financing, new technologies and other capacities in the water area, said Chapman in her remarks on behalf of the Group of 77 plus China and on the name of the island itself at the conference underway in New York till March 24.

Cuba is facing countless challenges stemming from its own condition of being a developing small island state and from the US blockade, whose effects have largely worsened after the unjustified and arbitrary inclusion of Cuba on the US list of countries alleged sponsors of terrorism, the Cuban official noted.

Despite the reality exposed above, Cuba ratifies its commitment to keep working towards the Sustainable Development Goal number 6, related to the universal and equitable access to drinking water and sewage service—and to put Cuban advances in these fields at the service of other nations, Chapman stressed.

Cuba took with approval the pro-tempore chair of the Ibero-American Conference of Water directors in 2023 and in November this year Havana will host the 24th meeting of that entity, expecting to materialize tangible and long-lasting projects with practical benefits that can be shared by the rest of the nations, the Cuban deputy premier noted.

Chapman recalled that over the past 30 years Cuba has developed successful cooperation programs in the water sector with several countries from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, with the participation of Cuban professionals, which will continue to operate.
“We will contribute our experience at international forums on this issue, aware that the internationalization of the water issue makes it crucial for the United Nations to be the main forum to debate and reach accords in this area,” said Chapman.