UNCTAD highlights Cuba's struggle against COVID-19

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 8 (ACN) The Cuban State’s efforts to tackle COVID-19 without renouncing its socioeconomic development plans in the midst of an intensified U.S. blockade were praised in the first of a series of online meetings leading up to 15th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), to be held on October 3-8 in Barbados.

“I would like to mention the example of my country, with an economy depressed by the pandemic, blockaded by the U.S. government and with no external funding sources,” were the opening words of Master of Science Olga Stolik Lipszyc, Research Professor at the Center for International Economic Research (CIEI), attached to the University of Havana, to some 150 representatives of civil society from several countries.

The meeting in Bridgetown is intended to exchange ideas and experiences on the impact of the pandemic and how to mobilize financial resources for the development of the most disadvantaged countries.

Also present were Isabelle Durant, Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD, and Colin Jordan, Minister of Labor and Social Partnership Relations of Barbados, as host of the event.

Stolik Lipszyc stressed that even under such adverse and complex circumstances the Cuban government gives priority to the production of medical supplies, especially five vaccine candidates, in line with the State's policy to fight the pandemic as the best way to save lives and stop contagion.

In her welcoming remarks at the meeting, Arlette Verploegh, UNCTAD coordinator of the eFounders Initiative, only mentioned four countries, and one of them was Cuba.

Established in 1964 as a permanent intergovernmental body, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is the main organ of the UN General Assembly that deals with trade, investment and development. In this regard, it assists developing countries in harnessing international trade, investment, financial resources and technology to achieve a sustainable and inclusive development.

It also pays special attention to the least developed countries through technical cooperation with a view to meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and supports the implementation of Financing for Development, following the mandate of the Addis Ababa 2015 Agenda, together with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Development Program.