President satisfied with agreements signed with Cuba
Georgetown GINA, October 20, 2012 -- Source - GINA
President Donald Ramotar has expressed satisfaction with the cooperation agreements signed between Guyana and Cuba in the areas of health, and sports. He also expressed the hope that his visit to Cuba would reinforce the bilateral relations between the two countries.
In an interview with the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina, President Ramotar said that talks held on Friday last with Cuban President Raul Castro, were friendly and exceeded the timetable.
President Donald Ramotar in Cuba
President Ramotar during his visit to the Spanish-speaking Island also met with the relatives of the five Cuban anti-terrorists who were given long jail sentences in the United States for warning their country against Florida-based groups’ terrorist plans.
He described as very moving, his encounter with the relatives of Fernando Gonzalez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez, who were arrested in September 1998 in the United States. The President conveyed his own solidarity and called for increased solidarity with their case to achieve their release.
President Ramotar arrived in Havana, Cuba on Wednesday with the aim of strengthening the bilateral ties established in 1972. He re-affirmed Guyana’s support for lifting of the US over-50-year economic, commercial and financial blockade, a stand shared with CARICOM.
The health agreement heightens cooperation between the two countries and places attention on the primary and secondary levels health care, as well as support for human resource development while the sports agreement focuses on technical assistance in physical education.
A third agreement signed related to “a mechanism destined to reciprocally suppress the visa of official and service passports, for the sake of facilitating the trips of holders of those documents”.
Foreign Affairs Minister, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, Public Health Minister, Roberto Morales, and president of the National Institute of Deportes, Physical Education and Recreation, CristiÁn Jimenez signed the agreements.
Cuba and Guyana have cooperated in sectors such as public health, education, culture and sport. More than 1,200 Cuban medical personnel have provided services to Guyanese and hundreds of eye patients have benefitted from free surgeries in Cuba under the Mission Miracle programme.