HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 5 (ACN) The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) should raise awareness in favor of a fair and equitable world economic order, said Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz, Cuban minister of foreign trade and investment.
Speaking at the General Debate segment of the 15th UNCTAD Ministerial Conference, which is in virtual session, the Cuban minister recalled that for almost two years the world has been living under the impact of a pandemic that has generated a global health crisis and has deepened the inequalities between developed and developing countries.
This situation, he warned, underlines the need for an urgent transformation of the unjust, unequal and undemocratic international financial structure.
Malmierca Diaz affirmed that this organization should not be transformed into a technical cooperation agency that trains developing countries to comply with the terms imposed by the more developed countries.
Revitalizing and renewing UNCTAD cannot mean changing or further reducing its mandate, he said, and advocated that the organization should continue to be the universal forum for debating and building consensus on trade and development issues and finding appropriate solutions to the problems affecting the weakest and most vulnerable economies.
Cuban minister commented that Cuba continues working on the implementation of the National Economic and Social Development Plan until 2030, despite the blockade imposed by the United States.
Cuba is advancing in the process of immunizing the population with three vaccines developed in the nation, and in the progress of two other vaccine candidates, he continued.
Cuba thanks UNCTAD Member States that have offered their solidarity assistance to Cuba by sending medical supplies and foodstuffs, a much-appreciated act of friendship and collaboration, Malmierca Diaz concluded.