BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, July 2nd 2014 (CUOPM) – The relationship between the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis and the Republic of Cuba is based on solidarity and fraternity and continues to reap dividends for both sides.
Speaking at the opening of the Embassy of St. Kitts and Nevis in the Cuban capital, Havana, the twin-island Federation’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Patrice Nisbett said Kittitians and Nevisians have benefited from the cooperation programmes with Cuba through technical assistance, training and the sharing of knowledge and expertise in areas such as agriculture, education, health, energy conservation and disaster management.
“In many facets of our society, Cuba has been able to spread its influence. Our nationals from all walks of life have been able to access Cuban institutions of higher learning through the benevolent Cuban Scholarship Programme, affording our students opportunities that their socio-economic status would have denied them.
To date, almost 100 students have graduated in a plethora of disciplines: accounting, architecture, education, finance, medicine, nursing, physical education, philology, psychology and the list continues,” Minister Nisbett told St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas; Cuba’s Vice President and Secretary of the State National Council, Her Excellency Mercedes Lopez Ace; Cuba’s Minister of Agriculture, His Excellency Gustavo Rodriguez Rollero; Cuba’s Ambassador to St. Kitts and Nevis His Excellency Hugo Ruiz Cabrera and several CARICOM Ambassadors resident in Havana.
Foreign Minister Nisbett pointed out that the Federation’s hhealthcare sector has been enhanced tremendously from assistance of the Cuban government who, since the 1990’s has been deploying medical practitioners to render services to the citizenry at little or no cost to families.
“St. Kitts and Nevis has, since 1998 hosted over 90 medical and technical Cuban workers in the fields ranging from anaesthesiology and gynaecology to ophthalmology and paediatrics. A flagship venture of the Cuban government in collaboration with that of Venezuela was the Miracle Eye Mission, which offered from 2005, free eye care treatment in Cuba to people from every background,” said Minister Nisbett.
He pointed out that like many other Caribbean islands, St. Kitts and Nevis can boast of significant strides in its social development, especially in the area of education and health, that are, in no small measure directly attributable to the assistance of the Cuban government.
He also disclosed that it is not only in the fields of education and health that threads of Cuban support are evident.
Cuba has offered expertise in agriculture by deploying technical specialists to conduct assessments of a wide array of agricultural concerns: fertilization, diversification, hydroponic farming, agronomy, pest control, including studies on the monkey population and its effect on agriculture.
Minister Nisbett said Cuba’s impact spans a variety of areas and sports is no exception.
“In fact, the Federation, in addition to some of its Caribbean States have welcomed occasionally to our shores, clubs and sporting arenas, Cuban coaches in basketball, boxing, football and track and field. The development of culture in the region owes some credit also to our Cuban neighbours. Cuban artists continue to participate and perform in a number of regional festivals,” said foreign minister Nisbett.
He was in high praise of the Cuban sculptors whose work adorns many villages, towns and historical sites throughout the islands.
“The bust of the Right Excellent Sir Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw at the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport and the life-size statue of the First National Hero at the St. Paul’s Memorial Park, as well as that of Sir C.A. Paul Southwell at the Industrial Site are handiwork of Cuban sculptors,” said Mr. Nisbett, who reiterated that the relationship between St. Kitts and Nevis and Cuba has been to the two countries’ mutual advantage although St. Kitts and Nevis is not able to reciprocate in like measure the deployment of experts to Cuba.
St. Kitts and Nevis and Cuba established diplomatic relations with Cuba on May 10th 1995, although both in 1993, both countries signed an Agreement on Medical Cooperation Scheme which facilitated the deployment of four (4) health workers to the Federation to render services in 1996.
In 1998, the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party administration of the Right Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas signed several agreements including the Basic Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation, Visa Waiver Agreement, Agreement in Sports Cooperation, Agreement on Cultural Cooperation and Agreement on Health Cooperation.
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