Mauritius: The Special Envoy of Cuba, Yoisy Ford Garcia, paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Land Transport and Light Rail, Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Alan Ganoo, yesterday in Port Louis. She is the Chargée d’Affaires at the Cuban Embassy based in Harare, Zimbabwe, accredited to Mauritius.
The Special Envoy conveyed to the Head of Mauritian Diplomacy an invitation from the President of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel, to the Prime Minister, Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, to attend the G77+ China Summit on the theme “Current Development Challenges: The Role of Science, Technology and Innovation”, to be held on 14 and 15 September 2023 in Havana, Cuba. She also extended the invitation to the Summit to Minister Ganoo.
Discussions also focused on avenues for bilateral exchange between Mauritius and Cuba in areas of mutual interest, including tourism, trade, investment, the medical and pharmaceutical sectors, technical and vocational training, arts, culture, sport, youth, health and community development..
Garcia expressed her appreciation of Mauritius’ support for the various Cuban resolutions at the United Nations and the African Union calling for the lifting of the US trade embargo against Cuba. She was also impressed by the socio-economic progress achieved by Mauritius as a small island State.
For his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs conveyed Mauritius’ thanks to Cuba for its support for the United Nations General Assembly resolutions concerning the Chagos Archipelago, which is an integral part of Mauritius’ territory, in order to complete Mauritius’ decolonisation process and enable it to exercise its sovereignty over the archipelago effectively.
Mauritius and Cuba collaborate in international forums, including the Alliance of Small Island States, to find coordinated solutions to global challenges from a South-South perspective, addressing the particular concerns of Small Island Developing States.
Regarding other areas of cooperation, Minister Ganoo expressed the wish for Cuban technical assistance in developing the International Slavery Museum in Mauritius. He also praised Cuba’s leadership role in South-South dialogue.