Beijing, China.- Cuba reiterated its support for the consolidation of cooperative ties between the People’s Republic of China (PRCH) and members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) for the development of new information communication technologies during the celebrations this Tuesday at the Cooperation Forum in digital technologies between the Asian nation and the above multilateral space.
During the virtual meeting, through Mario Hernández, Director General of the Ministry of Communications (Mincom), the archipelago underlined its attachment to CELAC’s commitment to promote the socio-economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic as quickly as possible, including in the field of telecommunications and universal access to the network of networks.
In this spirit, Hernández said: “We are proud to have contributed to the consolidation of cooperative relations with the establishment of the China-Celac Forum in Havana in 2014. We also support China’s Global Development Initiative announced in the debate of the 76th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly,” he said.
In addition to Argentina as interim president of CELAC, representatives of technology and communications regulators from Chile, Guatemala, Barbados, Uruguay, Panama, Costa Rica, Barbados, Dominican Republic and Venezuela attended the forum and others. In each of the interventions, the Latin American and Caribbean nations agreed that their priorities in this area are to fight to reduce the digital divide, to promote the equitable development of the different interior regions and to disseminate tools to improve the quality of education at all levels.
For this part of the world, the transition to 5G technology is a major challenge. It is clear, they added, that Latin America and the Caribbean will find it comparatively more difficult to achieve this than China, which is undoubtedly setting the standards in its establishment. In fact, today it has over 70 percent of all existing 5G-based services on a global scale.
For its part, the Asian giant stressed that despite the distances, both sides are moving closer together in the search for peace and development. Chinese academics and government officials made various proposals to join forces to advance the digital economy and promote mutual benefit by creating a dialogue platform that facilitates cooperation in the field and socializes best practices.
In addition, and in order to increase the level of cooperation, the PRC reiterated its willingness to continue working with Latin America and the Caribbean to strengthen its telecommunications infrastructure, especially in the development towards its fifth generation and artificial intelligence. At the same time, he expressed his willingness to be part of the solution for the Latin American and Caribbean region to reduce the technological gap; and stepping up digital governance in line with the 2030 Development Goals agreed within the framework of the United Nations.