CARICOM renews calls for end to trade embargo against Cuba

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC):

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries have reiterated their rejection of the decades-old trade embargo against Cuba and is urging the United States to adhere to United Nations resolutions calling for an end to the measure.

A CARICOM Secretariat statement Tuesday said that the issue was among matters discussed by regional foreign ministers and their Cuban counterpart at the Third Cuba-CARICOM Ministerial meeting held in Havana last week.

According to the statement, the meeting "reiterated their rejection of the unjust economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed against Cuba by the United States of America for more than five decades, and once again urged the government of the United States to abide by the resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and to end that policy, which is contrary to International Law."

The statement said the ministers agreed to continue the process of strengthening the relationship between the 15-member regional grouping and the Caribbean's only Communist country.

"They reiterated the commitment to regional cooperation as an effective strategy to achieve the aims of sustainable development and effective integration, that would bring greater well-being to their respective peoples," the statement said, adding that they also agreed to continue to strengthen and to consolidate programmes of cooperation in the prioritised areas jointly identified, in accordance with the capacity and needs of each state, with emphasis on the promotion of health, capacity building, human resource training, as well as natural disaster preparedness.

Higher levels of development

The foreign ministers said they were also of the view that "only an integration based on cooperation, solidarity, and a common will to move towards higher levels of development, can satisfy the expectations of the people of Latin American and the Caribbean while preserving their independence, sovereignty and identity.

"They also reiterated their commitment to move forward towards the establishment of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States that was first mooted at a conference in South America a few months ago."

Regarding the environment, the meeting "underscored that climate change constitutes a major threat to mankind and the most important environmental challenge to the development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and the low lying coastal developing states."

In this regard, they urged the international community to make the greatest effort to reach, "through a transparent and inclusive process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, an international binding agreement to strengthen the Post Kyoto Protocol and to establish a binding agreement for a more effective implementation of the Convention, taking into account the situation and special needs of low-lying coastal and small island developing states."